Opinion ID: 1800645
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Travel expenditures)

Text: In 2002, Judge Miller attended the City and Juvenile Judges' Conference held in New Orleans, the Spring Judges Conference held in Lafayette, and the Fall Judges Conference held in New Orleans. All together, Judge Miller was advanced, reimbursed, or had paid to him or on his behalf, travel, hotel, and meal expenses in the amount of $3,560.12 for these three trips. Under Louisiana Supreme Court travel guidelines, the maximum allowable travel, hotel, and meal expenses totaled $1,874.25, resulting in Judge Miller's receiving cash or services of $1,685.87 in excess of the maximum allowable amount for these items. These excess travel advances and expenditures resulted in negative audit findings by the Legislative Auditor's Office; in turn, the negative audit findings were reported in the Lake Charles newspaper, The American Press, in an article published on August 26, 2003 and entitled Audit focuses on judge's expenses. The Commission alleged that Judge Miller's failure to timely reimburse the court for excess travel advances and excess expenditures violated La. Const. art. VII, § 14 and La. R.S. 42:1461(A). [12] The Commission further alleged that Judge Miller's conduct violated Canons 1, 2A, and 3B(1) (a judge shall maintain professional competence in judicial administration) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. Finally, the Commission alleged that Judge Miller engaged in persistent and public conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute, in violation of La. Const. art. V, § 25(C).