Florida Judge Faces 60-Day Suspension for ‘intemperate conduct’

After receiving “three charges alleging intemperate conduct in separate incidents that occurred on January 25, February 9, and February 10, 2022, during Seminole County Judge Wayne Culver’s second year on the county bench”, the Supreme Court of Florida came to a decision on the allegations on November 27, 2024. 

The Judicial Qualifications Commission submitted its findings, conclusions, and recommendations prior to the hearing. The Commission presented that Judge Culver had “violated several canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct by engaging in abusive and intemperate conduct during two separate court proceedings”.

Upon further investigation, the Commission’s hearing panel decided to limit its discussion to the two incidents in February 2022, finding no canon violations in January 2022. The first incident took place during the proceedings of court case Perez v. State, 334 So. 3d 742, 742 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022). 

Samuel Perez appeared before Judge Culver on February 9, 2022. While the Commission believed Perez to be “polite and respectful” “and apologetic”, Judge Culver “found him in direct criminal contempt…, sentenced him to the maximum 179 days in jail, and had Mr. Perez summarily taken into custody”. 

In addition, Judge Culver cut Perez off when he requested to address the court. Then, when a woman from the gallery stood up and addressed the court, Judge Culver threatened to have her taken into custody as well. 

After Perez had spent over a month in jail, the Fifth District Court of Appeal granted an emergency habeas petition, allowing him to be released. The conclusion was that “Judge Culver’s handling of the contempt proceeding violated the governing rules of procedure, in part by failing to offer Perez a meaningful opportunity to present mitigation testimony”. 

The second incident in consideration took place on February 10. A man by the name of Kevin Newton was scheduled to appear before Judge Culver but arrived early and had difficulty finding a seat in the courtroom while a different hearing was underway. 

Seeing this, the Commission said that Judge Culver “yelled in a loud, aggressive voice, ‘Sir, I’m doing something here. Could you shut up and sit down’”.  

When Newton went to explain that he was just trying to find a seat, “Judge Culver replied: ‘That’s not shutting up. You want to be held in contempt and go to jail? I asked you a f*****g question, a*****e.’ Newton answered, ‘No, Sir,’ and Judge Culver said, ‘Then shut up’”.
The Commission stated that “Judge Culver admitted shocking himself by his use of profanity, and that members of the public would rightly be appalled”.

Due to these incidents, the Commission recommended that Judge Culver should face “a 60-day suspension without pay”, “public reprimand”, and ongoing “anger management and treatment for stress” as his consequences.

In the official opinion document, the Supreme Court of Florida reports “that the Commission’s factual findings, which Judge Culver has not contested, are supported by clear and convincing evidence”. As such, it agreed with the Commission and found that Judge Culver’s actions make him a “candidate for removal from the bench”.

However, additional evidence brought to light that this “misconduct occurred over a brief period during which he experienced ‘intense personal pressure and loss’ while he cared for his imminently dying father”. Multiple authorities, including the state attorney and two chief judges, also testified on Judge Culver’s behalf.

Furthermore, “he has voluntarily received mental health counseling for the past two years”, “he has been remorseful and cooperative throughout the disciplinary process”, and he “has no disciplinary history as a lawyer or judge”.

So, the Commission ultimately found that Judge Culver “is genuinely contrite, has learned from this experience, and continues to be effective as a judge”, “deemed Judge Culver’s misconduct to be ‘aberrational, situational and attributable to stressful personal problems’”, and was “persuaded that Judge Culver’s misconduct is unlikely to recur”.  

Based on this, the Supreme Court of Florida did not “see grounds to deviate from the Commission’s recommendations that Judge Culver be suspended for 60 days without pay and publicly reprimanded”. Although it did not see a reason to order Judge Culver to continue seeking mental health counseling, it still expects him to do so.

Click here to read the full seven-page document of the Supreme Court of Florida’s opinion on this case. 
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Article by Ema Tibbetts