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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Judge’s Comments Lead To 30-Day Bench Suspension

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (CN) - A judge's sharp tongue has landed him off the bench for 30 days without pay. The Maryland Supreme Court imposed the penalty on Judge Bruce Lamdin, whose caustic quips failed to amuse the justices.

"What's the rush to get back to Pennsylvania? It's such an ugly state," Lamdin commented to a resident of the Keystone state.

"If she only knew how much I hate kids, she wouldn't have brought her kid in today," he said after a woman left his courtroom with her crying child.

Lamdin even joked about putting kids into plastic bags and shipping them to Annapolis, the same procedure he would use for a cell phone that goes off in his court.

Lamdin said a defendant in his court could get "all the drugs he wants at the Department of Corrections."

One of Lamdin's biggest rants came against a repeat offender:

"If there's a pile of s -, you'll step in it," Lamdin said. "Is he one of the biggest dumb asses I've ever seen? Absolutely. Get your head out of where it's been inserted for the past couple of years."

The Maryland Supreme Court said the comments did not belong in the courtroom.

"Even if the comments were delivered in a joking manner," Justice Raker wrote, "it's difficult to imagine a context in which the remarks would be appropriate."

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