Opinion ID: 1779690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: The length of service on the bench.

Text: Judge Lee took the bench January 1, 2001, and thus was a new judge when some of the ethical misconduct occurred. However, as the Commission noted, by the second year of her term, she should not have remained in violation of rules about timely deciding cases and timely and accurately reporting cases under advisement. The same can be said of the travel expenses, especially given that the more serious violations occurred from mid-2002 through 2003. Further, no amount of judicial experience whatsoever is needed to know that (1) if the state provides you with public funds to cover court-related expenses, you cannot also charge the same expenses on the court credit card, and (2) that when you return from a trip in which you did not spend all of the public funds advanced to you for that trip, you have an obligation to turn that money back over to the court within a reasonable time after your return.