Speaking of judicial discipline. I don’t have all the details yet, but a reliable source says a couple of Arkansas circuit judges — Circuit Judge Rhonda Wood and District Judge Jerry Patterson — were on the verge of sending each other to jail for contempt in a dispute today at the Searcy County Courthouse in Marshall. The dispute apparently stemmed from a courtroom scheduling conflict that left one of the judges without an expected courtroom.
Sheriff’s reports were unavailable by the time we got on the story, but deputies were called. Deputies asked for backup from the State Police in Harrison. A State Police spokesman said, however, that the dispute was resolved before the trooper arrived.
We’ve been unable to reach the key parties, but Patterson’s wife said she’d talked to her husband and that everything was worked out. She said things had been blown out of proportion. Media from all over have been calling, apparently.
UPDATE: Everybody’s gone to cover on this one, judging by the Log Cabin Democrat account. And now here’s the Harrison Daily Times story, with the judges smiling for the camera and shaking hands.