Judge disciplined for using position to dodge traffic ticket

By JOHN RABY
Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia judge has been suspended for six months without pay and fined $5,000 after he berated a police officer during a traffic stop and complained to the officer’s supervisors. The state Supreme Court issued the ruling Thursday. Circuit Judge C. Carter Williams was pulled over in Moorefield in 2021 when an officer saw him driving with a cell phone in his hand, a violation of state law. Williams called the officer’s supervisor during the stop, then called the town’s mayor and other officials that night to complain. The court’s suspension is longer than a three-month suspension recommended by a state Judicial Hearing Board.