Virginia Beach judge runs into trouble at Assembly

A longtime circuit judge from Virginia Beach has been dealt a blow in his bid for a third term, as a child advocacy group urged legislators to block his re-election.

Some lawmakers say they share the group’s concerns about comments made by Virginia Beach Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. in a heated divorce and custody case that played out 10 years ago.

Padrick’s name was struck from a list of sitting judges certified for re-election by both the House and Senate Courts of Justice committees Wednesday.

The move delays Padrick’s re-election bid, and at press time, it was not clear when the courts committees would reconsider his qualifications.

Padrick came under attack last month from the child advocacy group “PROTECT,” the lobbying arm of the National Association to Protect Children. Camille Cooper of Louisa County is the group’s director of legislative affairs.

Cooper provided committee members with copies of court transcripts from the Virginia Beach custody case during judicial interviews Dec. 13. In one hearing, Padrick scoffed at concerns about a 3-year-old child: “Take them to McDonald’s and get them a Happy Meal,” the judge said, according to the transcript.

“It’s pretty damning information,” Sen. Thomas A. Garrett, R-Goochland, said after a committee meeting. “There are certain jokes that we don’t make,” he added.

“I cannot in good conscience vote to certify Judge Padrick as a circuit court judge,” Garrett told fellow committee members.

Senate Courts chair Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-Williamsburg, came to Padrick’s defense. The complaints were “not an accurate reflection of his performance in the courtroom,” Norment said.

After a voice vote that appeared to fall short of a majority for Padrick, the Senate Courts Committee decided to delay action on his certification.

Later, the House Courts Committee similarly removed Padrick from a block of judges being certified and put off a vote on him.

Padrick’s difficulties may mark the first time this advocacy group has come close to removing a sitting Virginia judge over concerns about courtroom performance.

“This is sort of a turning point for judges,” Cooper said. “This is a shot across the bow.”

For three years, Cooper’s group has assembled sentencing statistics in cases involving child victims to highlight concerns about judges’ sentencing patterns. At first dismissive of the group’s use of statistics, legislators, especially members of the House, have increasingly accepted the credibility of PROTECT’s criticisms.

Updike and O’Flaherty

Two other incumbent judges who encountered difficulty at the Dec. 13 judicial interviews appeared to survive opposition.

Both committees held separate votes to consider Bedford County Circuit Judge James W. Updike Jr., but lawmakers in both panels certified Updike for re-election without express opposition.

While Updike had been administratively sanctioned for a 2009 courtroom outburst, lawyers who practiced in his court publicly urged his re-election. Both prosecutors and defense lawyers wrote letters of support, and a group of about 20 attended a Dec. 13 hearing in person.

Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, sought to minimize concern about Updike’s intemperate episode, alluding to past examples of lurid judicial misbehavior by others.

“We’ve had a judge pull a gun on a lawyer, another one ripped off his robe and engaged in fist fights with lawyers and another one who was drunk at a party in Winchester and was biting the ankles of two women. This is nothing,” Saslaw said.

Garrett said past oversights should not be used to justify lax standards. “Just because something was done wrong before doesn’t mean we should do it again,” he said.

Garrett did not speak specifically against Updike, however, and Updike was certified on voice votes by both the House and Senate courts committees.

Garrett also moved for a separate consideration of Fairfax General District Judge Ian M. O’Flaherty, but O’Flaherty was approved with only Garrett abstaining from the vote.

O’Flaherty’s re-election bid was opposed publicly by Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh, and Garrett said he shared the prosecutor’s concerns about O’Flaherty’s record of dismissing DUI cases.

One new judge apparently will have a short tenure on the bench.

The Senate Courts Committee did not certify Tazewell County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Martha P. Ketron as qualified for the position. She was appointed to the bench in May by the circuit judges of the 29^th Circuit to take the place of Judge Henry Barringer as he moved to the general district bench.

The Senate opposition apparently stemmed from the fact that she is the daughter of state Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Tazewell.