Judge to be disciplined after video shows him cursing out defendant

By WESH Staff

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    SEMINOLE COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — A Florida judge has been disciplined after a video showed him cursing out a defendant.

A document from the Chair of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission shows that Seminole County Judge Wayne Culver is to be suspended without pay for 60 days, will receive a public reprimand, and will be required to complete an anger management course and stress management counseling.

“The Commission believes that such a sanction serves to remind judges and assure the public that judges in the State of Florida are held to the highest standard of personal conduct,” the report states.

Two incidents are cited in the reasoning for Culver’s suspension.

One incident, which reportedly took place on Jan. 25, involved Culver responding to a litigant that was heard yelling and being disruptive.

“Judge Culver told the respondent that the Court’s words were ‘the most important words you’ll ever hear as long as you live as an organism on this planet.’ The Court followed that up by telling the pro-se respondent that if he continued to interrupt the petitioner, the judge would send him to jail for so long that the litigant would ‘have to have the jail re-named after [him],'” the report states.

The Commission found that Culver’s use of “sarcasm and mockery” was inappropriate and served to raise the level of tension in the courtroom.

Another incident, which took place on Feb. 10, is believed to address Culver’s behavior in a video that shows him cursing at a defendant.

“Can you shut up and sit down?” he’s heard saying in the video.

“That’s not shutting up,” he replies when the defendant responds.

“Do you want to be held in contempt and go to jail?” He is heard asking. “I asked you a [expletive] question [expletive].”

This behavior and the issue from January landed in the hands of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, and in a just released finding, the JQC writes, “Judge Culver has admitted and agreed that his conduct… violated the code of Judicial Conduct.”

And specifically referencing the language from the bench, the JQC said Culver’s words “are as offensive as they are inappropriate.”

The January case was also referenced in the findings released by Judicial Qualifications.

In a hearing earlier this year, a person involved in a legal matter in Culver’s court was being disruptive, prompting Culver to suggest he’d be in jail long enough to “have to have the jail re-named after him.”

According to the finding, the judge “unlawfully imposed three consecutive contempt sentences,” though he eventually amended those sentences.

The document goes on to say Culver has “accepted full responsibility” that he “regrets that his actions have cast a negative light.”

The Supreme Court will have the last word on what happens next.

Seminole County Court administration points out that later in the February video, Culver apologizes and the man who walked into court apologized as well.

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