Legal panel investigates news leak

A disciplinary committee wants to find out who leaked results of its vote in closed session to recommend suspending a judge for ethics violations.

Last week, the Associated Press and the Monitor reported that the Judicial Conduct Committee had voted to recommend a suspension for Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey, who admitted helping to shield her husband's assets from creditors as he was being investigated four years ago on misconduct allegations that led to his disbarment.

The closed Dec. 10 vote followed a public session at which lawyers for Coffey and the committee recommended that she be reprimanded, but not suspended or dismissed. Before announcing its recommendation, the committee planned to put it in writing and have its members review and approve it. The recommendation then would go to the Supreme Court, which decides punishment.

Based on the AP and Monitor reports, Coffey and her lawyer, Russell Hilliard, and Philip McLaughlin, the lawyer for the committee, requested that statements be taken from committee members to locate the source of the leak. They also asked that any disciplinary decision regarding Coffey be put off until officials decide whether the leak affected the committee's proceedings.

The motions allege the source or sources violated a rule barring committee members or employees from disclosing "proceedings, information, communications, materials, papers, files or transcripts."

In their motion, Coffey and Hilliard said the committee asked her for additional information after the Dec. 10 hearing. Publication of the stories "prior to receipt of the additional information requested from Judge Coffey at the conclusion of the hearing, and prior to the finalization of any decision, compromises the integrity of the process," the motion said.

The AP identified its source as a person familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to speak to the press. The Monitor identified its source as a committee member whom it did not name.

Hilliard, McLaughlin and Jack Crisp, the panel's chairman, declined to comment for this story.

The committee has a closed meeting scheduled for Thursday.

By BEVERLEY WANG

The Associated Press