Alabama: ethics charges against Hale County judge arising from election investigation
The Tuscaloosa News reports: A Hale County circuit judge has been accused by the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission of ethical violations over how he handled a voter fraud investigation involving three of his relatives.
The complaint handed down by the commission alleges that Judge Marvin W. Wiggins violated seven of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics in failing to recuse himself 'in a timely manner' once the Alabama Attorney General's Office requested that he do so. ...
The allegations against Wiggins date to his involvement with the December 2006 empaneling of a grand jury that the attorney general's office requested for its voter fraud investigation.
During that investigation, the attorney general's office investigated three of Wiggins' relatives: Wiggins' sister Gay Nell Tinker, who served as Hale County Circuit Clerk from 2001 to 2007; state Sen. Bobby Singleton, who was married to Tinker at the time and was Wiggins' brother-in-law; and Wiggins' cousin, Carrie Reaves.
The state's voter fraud investigation eventually resulted in the August 2007 indictments of Valada Paige-Banks and Rosie Lyles for their alleged criminal involvement in two 2004 elections.
Tinker was indicted in March 2008 on 13 felony offenses pertaining to voter fraud. -- Judge accused of ethical violations | TuscaloosaNews.com | The Tuscaloosa News | Tuscaloosa, AL
Note: The complaint is available from the Alabama Court of the Judiciary website.