Circuit court judge says he understands state Supreme Court order to disqualify him

Jameson is officially disqualified from presiding over all criminal cases in the 42nd Circuit Court
By Jane Kim, Randall Barnes
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MARSHALL COUNTY, Kentucky (WPSD) — The Kentucky Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday disqualifying Jamie Jameson from presiding over all criminal cases in the 42nd Judicial Circuit Court.
The order describes “significant animosity” between Jameson and Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Foust. The same day, Jameson officially filed a notice of appeal to the high court over the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission’s ruling to remove him from office.
The court’s order follows the recent investigation into allegations of misconduct against Jameson by the JCC, and the commission’s subsequent decision finding him guilty of those charges.
Jameson is officially disqualified from presiding over all criminal cases in the 42nd Circuit Court, which covers Marshall and Calloway counties.
Talking with Local 6 on Thursday, Foust and Jameson each said they agreed that the high court’s order made sense.
Jameson said he would have made the decision if he was in the same position.
“The person may think, ‘Well, wait a minute. Am I going to be treated fairly?'” said Jameson. “That’s certainly a legitimate potential issue for someone who has a case in the system, because there’s a lot of potential litigation that may be going forward in front of Mr. Faust and myself.”
The JCC found Jameson guilty of seven charges, including: acting as the alter ego of the court’s Community Corrections Board in the creation of an ankle monitoring program and failing to separate himself as judge from his CCB duties; acting as the CCB’s alter ego in the implementation and operation of that ankle monitoring program; mismanaging his courtroom, engaging in acts of retaliation and deviating from acceptable standards of judicial conduct; using his status as a judge to pressure people to fund and support his political campaign; repeatedly attempting to obstruct justice and impede the JCC’s authority to investigate the charges against him; a pattern of noncompliance and interference with the JCC’s orders; and engaging in acts of intimidation.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Foust said he has many concerns about Jameson’s past and current activities.
“Certainly he has misrepresented many things throughout and continues to do so on Facebook, and I just did not feel the commonwealth could be properly represented in anything that he might be handling,” said Foust.
Andrea Moore won the circuit court judge race against Jameson during the midterm elections.
She said she hopes to change the direction of Jameson’s tenure.
“Like I said on election night, the number one thing I would like to bring back is impartiality,” said Moore. “The circuit court judge’s role is to be impartial.”
The JCC ultimately ordered Jameson to be removed from office.
His appeal with the high court is pending.
Foust said he doesn’t think Jameson understands his actions.
“What concerns me in, especially when I read the opinion, was very simply that he didn’t seem to grasp what he had done wrong, and that’s very concerning to me,” said Foust.
For Jameson, the decision to disqualify him from presiding over all criminal cases makes sense.
“That’s the chief’s prerogative, and I think I would probably, given all the facts and circumstances, done the same thing, because it’s not about the judge. It’s about the public and their belief about the court system and is it fair,” said Jameson.
Retired Kentucky Supreme Court Justice David Buckingham has been appointed to oversee Jameson’s criminal cases.
He’ll do so until Moore takes office in January.
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