Opinion ID: 886025
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: conduct of samuel harris

Text: ¶ 127 With all the complaining that has gone on in recent years about judicial case loads, I assumed that members of the judiciary had better things to do than repeatedly and illegally sneak into another judge's office, pry into the hard drive of his computer, and when something offensive to others is discovered, spend the resources we have spent investigating him, trying him, publicly humiliating him and his family and taking away the source of his livelihood. It would be different if Smartt was the one who had violated another co-worker's constitutional rights by invading his privacy, as Harris did, but Smartt 1) violated no laws; 2) violated no county policies; 3) did not intentionally impose his bad taste on anyone else; 4) was not found to have neglected his duties; and 5) was not shown to have cost his employer one extra cent because of his personal and private viewing habits. ¶ 128 Nevertheless, Smartt has been reported by Harris to the FBI, investigated by the Department of Justice, sexual harassment charges have been filed against him, he has had to defend himself before the Judicial Standards Commission, and he has now been suspended from his employment without pay. The resources that have been wasted following the inadvertent discovery of one sexually explicit computer screen is more befitting the Salem witch hunts than a busy judiciary with any sense of priorities. (The majority's protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.) ¶ 129 Cascade County Commissioner, Tom Stelling, testified that there had been a history of poor relations between Harris and Smartt prior to the events which have led to Smartt's discipline. My impression from a review of the entire record is that because of that poor relationship, Harris embarked on a personal crusade to destroy Smartt after viewing the sexually explicit photos which were so upsetting to him that he printed them, took them home with him, and then snuck back into Smartt's office repeatedly with a digital camera to see what else he could find. Am I missing something or has the wrong justice of the peace been sanctioned? On a scale of disgusting and deplorable conduct, I would have to rank the gross and repeated invasion of Smartt's privacy by his co-worker far worse and, if unpunished, of greater consequence to society and the judiciary than anything that Smartt was actually found to have done. ¶ 130 If the public confidence in the judiciary is the Court's concern, it will be interesting to see what discipline is imposed on Harris who is actually responsible for the negative public perception the Court is so concerned about by invading Smartt's right to privacy in violation of the law and then using the fruits of his illegal search to advise the public that a fellow justice spent his private time in a manner that Harris knew would be offensive to large numbers of people.