Disbarred judge can't hold court but holds onto pay

Checks could be issued through '08

A judge who lost his law license and can no longer hear cases is still drawing thousands of dollars on the state payroll -- and will continue until someone figures out how to get rid of him.

The N.C. State Bar stripped James Ethridge of his law license in October after deciding he had swindled an ailing, older woman of her home and life savings while he was a lawyer in 2001. Ethridge was elected to the district court bench in 2004, where he handled a busy caseload of criminal and domestic and child custody disputes in Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties.

Without a law license, Ethridge is barred from holding court and signing orders. But he is not barred from keeping the job.

Getting Ethridge off the bench has become a "real quagmire," said Pamela Weaver Best, deputy counsel for the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

Best said she can't recall the state agency ever having to force a judge off the bench because he's been disbarred.

"We don't have a road map of how to proceed in a situation like this," said Paul Ross, executive secretary for the state's Judicial Standards Commission, the disciplinary board for judges. "No one anticipated something like this. You just don't think judges are going to get disbarred."

Ethridge did not return a call for comment. His attorney, Alan Schneider, said Ethridge has yet to decide whether he will resign.

Only two bodies can oust a duly elected judge. The entire General Assembly can impeach him. Or, the Judicial Standards Commission can take up the matter, but Ross says his group has no power to weigh in on mistakes a lawyer made before becoming a judge.

The predicament is getting expensive.

On Oct. 10, the head of the Administrative Office of the Courts, which oversees judges, clerks and other state court personnel, told him he couldn't hold court. Taxpayers have paid $9,300 to hire substitute judges to cover his shifts, according to AOC records. They're also responsible for 31 lunch tabs and reimbursed mileage for the emergency judge's trips to courthouses in Smithfield, Lillington and Sanford.

The state has also deposited salary of more than $25,000 into Ethridge's bank account for work he couldn't do.

There's no end in sight. The state may be forced to pay Ethridge's annual salary of $101,376 until his term as judge ends in December 2008.

Ethridge has appealed the State Bar's decision. His punishment, however, is not on hold while he waits for the state Court of Appeals to address his complaint. That process could drag out for more than a year.

One of the character witnesses for Ethridge may wind up pressing for him to leave. Rep. Leo Daughtry, who defended Ethridge's honesty at the state bar's disciplinary hearing, said he would speak with officials at the Administrative Office of the Courts to determine what role he might play in impeaching Ethridge. If they need the legislature to get involved, Daughtry said, he would convene a meeting with his colleagues from Harnett and Lee counties.

"It's not fair to the people," said Daughtry, a Smithfield Republican. "We're entitled to the seat, and we ought to have someone in that seat."

The State Bar's decision -- in which a panel of three men determined that Ethridge was deceitful and dishonest when he took the ailing woman's home and money -- dismantled Ethridge's 28-year career as a lawyer and his lifelong dream to be a judge. It took him three unsuccessful campaigns and a failed bid to fill a vacant post before winning the judgeship in 2004.

During that campaign, he embraced the Republican Party and espoused staunchly conservative ideals. In one flier to voters, Ethridge called for "lower taxes and less government at all levels."