Opinion ID: 2447827
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: They have fired the honest judge.

Text: It seems to us that if the article was believed, the reader would conclude that these men, having the power to control the Chief Justice, to fire the honest judge, and the desire to murder, would certainly have the power and the desire to see that a corrupt judge was appointed to succeed the honest judge. The people of Prestonsburg and Floyd County, being unacquainted with Judge Grauman, must have looked upon him with a jaundiced eye. Freedom of speech is not a license. It is a right or a privilege constitutionally guaranteed, but he who uses it as a license to degrade another does so at his peril. He must be prepared to prove the truth of his charges. Of course any attorney, as well as any other citizen has the right to criticize the Courts and their decisions, but the publication of false and scurrilous matters subjects them to disciplinary action. Thatcher v. United States, 6 Cir., 212 F. 801; State ex rel. Dabney v. Breckenridge, supra, 126 Okl. 86, 258 P. 744, 53 A.L.R. 1239; Snyder's Case, 301 Pa. 276, 152 A. 33, 76 A.L.R. 666. The right of the Court to establish rules of practice and procedure for disciplining attorneys is clear, Commonwealth ex rel. Ward v. Harrington, 266 Ky. 41, 98 S.W.2d 53; In re Sparks, 267 Ky. 93, 101 S.W.2d 194, and the fact that the offending attorney holds an elective office is no conclusive reason for not suspending or disbarring him. Commonwealth ex rel. Pike County Bar Ass'n v. Stump, 247 Ky. 589, 57 S.W.2d 524. In view of the Court's ruling in the Harrington case, supra, and Commonwealth ex rel. Buckingham v. Ward, 267 Ky. 627, 103 S.W.2d 117, we feel that the punishment to the respondent, Burnis Martin, should be limited to a suspension of his right to practice law for a period of six months, but that such suspension shall not apply to the performance of his official duties as Commonwealth's Attorney. The respondent strenuously insists that this case should be remanded to another trial committee, in effect that he be given a new trial. A sufficient answer to this contention is that respondent has not made any showing to this Court that he would or could produce any witness who would testify to any fact that would be calculated to change the finding of the Board of Bar Commissioners in the event the case should be referred back to that Board. It is elementary that in order to be entitled to a rehearing of any decided matter the movant must show the Court not only that he can produce witnesses who were not heard before, but that the effect of the testimony of such witnesses would reasonably be calculated to bring about a different decision. This the respondent has wholly failed to do. All lawyers are dissatisfied whenever they lose any contention that they believe is correct. By immemorial usage, the courts, and the public, expect an expression of such disapproval from the disappointed lawyer. But every lawyer, worthy of respect, realizes that public confidence in our courts is the cornerstone of our governmental structure, and will refrain from unjustified attack on the character of the judges, while recognizing the duty to denounce and expose a corrupt or dishonest judge. In this case the defendant caused to be printed and published charges of political favoritism and corruption against honorable and distinguished judges, without any real effort to investigate the facts, and without a scintilla of evidence to support them. It is, therefore, adjudged that the recommendations of the Board of Bar Commissioners are hereby adopted and approved in each case with the exception that the suspension of the Respondent, Burnis Martin, shall not apply to his official duties as Commonwealth's Attorney. The regular members of the Court of Appeals having declined to sit in these cases, that fact was certified to his Excellency, Lawrence W. Wetherby, Governor of the Commonwealth, who thereupon appointed and commissioned as Special Judges of the Court of Appeals to hear the appeals in these cases, the following practicing attorneys of the State: Pat Rankin, Chief Justice; Neville Moore, Paul Basham, Louis Reuscher, Bernard Davis, William J. Baird, and Robert P. Hobson.