Portsmouth's Judge Elliott to retire at end of month

Portsmouth General District Judge Archie Elliott will retire at the end of this month rather than in June 2007 as a Supreme Court of Virginia opinion on June 8 suggested might be the case.

The Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission had asked the court to censure or remove Elliott after it concluded that he had breached a supervisory agreement that would have allowed him to return to the bench.

The court concluded that he had not breached the agreement and dismissed the complaint JIRC had filed against Elliott. It said it expected the commission and Elliott to abide “by the original terms of the agreement, modified as necessary to account for the passage of time required to bring the matter before this court.”

The agreement would have permitted Elliott to return to the bench for about a year.

An order entered June 16 said the opinion “is clarified to reflect that Judge Elliott shall comply with the provisions of his original agreement with the commission and shall retire effective June 30, 2006. This date can be modified only if necessary to comply with the rules of the Virginia Retirement System.”

Elliott was first appointed in 1979 and was reappointed to a fifth six-year term in 2003.

The commission found that Elliott had violated judicial ethics by reviewing the criminal record of defendants before determining guilt or innocence and by falsely telling defendants that a “DEA light” in his courtroom could determine whether they had been using illegal drugs.