Judge under judicial conduct review; officials, attorneys questioned about Meares' actions

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

For the second time in about 10 months, the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary is apparently investigating the conduct of a local judge.

On Friday, investigator Jim LaRue reportedly interviewed several people about Circuit Judge Mike Meares' recent orders that called Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher and attorneys, including Rob Goddard and Melanie Davis, into court to testify about administrative matters.

Both Davis and Goddard confirmed that they had been interviewed about Meares.

"It was about the circumstances around the issuance of the two orders where I was ordered to appear before him," Goddard said.

Recent actions by Meares have brought out allegations of election-year politics. Meares, a Democrat, is running for Circuit Court judge against Republican David R. Duggan, a Blount County General Sessions Court judge.

Davis confirmed that LaRue had interviewed her.

"We discussed the May order ... to appear before Judge Meares and turn over my file," she said. "We also talked about the June 13, 2008, appearance I had as ordered by Judge Meares about the local rules. We provided him affidavits about what happened as well as documentation about what had occurred."

Meares could not be reached for comment.

This is the second time within the past year that LaRue has investigated a local judge. In September, he was in Maryville conducting interviews focused on Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young's behavior on Sept. 7 during an order of protection hearing. No ruling has ever been released about that investigation.

The Tennessee Court of the Judiciary may recommend removal, suspension or other disciplinary action against a judge. It has jurisdiction over all Tennessee state judges.

Sue Allison, public information officer for the AOC, could not confirm the investigation. She said that, speaking generally, that unless formal charges resulted, there would be nothing made public about any investigation.

"It's because of the nature of the court system," Allison said. "Because it's an adversarial system, many times when someone uses the court system, one side or another may leave unhappy. So there are a vast majority of complaints that are filed and not found to have any merit. So there is no point unless one is found to have merit."

Meares and Young have been involved in what appears to be a dispute related to administrative matters in Circuit Court. Young, presiding judge for the 5th Judicial District, said in a letter to the editor in The Daily Times, published on April 27, that there was a backlog of cases waiting to be tried by Meares.

Young wrote that Meares had 781 cases pending on that date, but the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) later indicated that its current figures through April 31 showed there were 706 criminal counts pending and 521 civil cases pending.

In June, Meares ordered Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher to appear before to answer questions about a list of 98 criminal cases that Meares claimed should have been reported as disposed of to the AOC from July 2007 until April 2008.

LaRue questioned some of Hatcher's staff on issues related to Meares' orders on Friday, according to Hatcher.

"He asked us why he would go across town to use the Maryville Police Department (to serve the orders)," Hatcher said. "My staff indicated they didn't have any idea. He asked if we knew who had requested the court reporter. As far as (my staff knows), it would be a request by the judge. He questioned us as to if we knew who paid for the court reporter. We don't. The staff had no idea."

When asked if LaRue had interviewed anyone at the Maryville Police Department, Chief Tony Crisp indicated that a representative of the Court of the Judiciary had interviewed his evening shift supervisor, related to Meares' request to serve the orders.

Crisp said, generally, it's not his policy for Maryville police officers to serve civil process orders unless the Blount County Sheriff expressly asks for help.

"We don't serve civil process," Crisp said. "That's the responsibility of the sheriff. If the sheriff asks us to provide some assistance, that's allowable. Basically, Judge Meares came here on a Saturday afternoon, spoke to my evening shift supervisors, and he asked us to (serve the orders), and we did that."

In a May 30 order, requiring Goddard and Davis to appear before him, Meares also pointed out apparent discrepancies in the local Circuit Court rules as recommended by the Blount County Bar Association and how they were adopted. He has also questioned whether there could be more efficient ways of dividing the cases between Circuit Divisions I and II. In Blount County Circuit Court, Division I hears mostly civil cases, and Division II hears mostly criminal cases.

In a June 10 letter to Young, Meares wrote that the local rules appeared incomplete, citing a lack of required plea bargaining deadlines. Young previously said, in reply, that the judge could have changed that at any time.