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

Neb. Judge Removed for|Helping Daughter’s Team

(CN) - A Nebraska judge lost his seat on the bench for using his position to help his daughter's softball team.

The Nebraska Supreme Court removed Judge Kent E. Florum from the state's 11th Judicial District after he served for 19 years.

Florum also served as an assistant coach on his daughter's team beginning in 2008. He admits to having misused his judicial position in the following ways:

- When he learned that the head coach had been accused of stealing from a booster club, he tried to arrange for the coach to pay restitution in order to keep her in the dugout.

- When Florum heard that school board planned to take action against the coach, he warned that the board member would be "making an enemy" in Florum.

- When one the players on the team was being prosecuted, he asked the county attorney to "take care of my shortstop." He also made it clear to several attorneys that he had an interest in the outcome of the case.

"Because the respondent's course of conduct was clearly, repeatedly contrary to the rules of judicial conduct, and because suspension from office would be insufficient to correct the damage wrought by the respondent's behavior, we remove the respondent from his office as a judge," the justices wrote.

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