CAMDEN — Judge who blocked ads takes himself off of case
LITTLE ROCK — A northwest Arkansas judge who temporarily blocked some TV stations from running a conservative group’s ad targeting a state Supreme Court justice seeking re-election is removing himself from the case.
Washington County Circuit Court Judge Doug Martin recused himself Wednesday from hearing Justice Courtney Goodson’s lawsuit over the ads by the Judicial Crisis Network, a Washington-based group criticizing Goodson ahead of the Tuesday non-partisan judicial election. Martin delayed a hearing that was scheduled Thursday in the case but said the temporary restraining order he issued over the ads remains in effect.
That hearing has been delayed indefinitely until a new judge is assigned, Washington County Circuit Clerk Jon Jaroe said.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Tuesday that Martin reported receiving income, through his wife, from the law firm of Goodson’s husband.
Goodson earlier Wednesday asked that the case be reassigned to another judge.
Order halts info.-picking in lawsuit by Ark. judge
PULASKI COUNTY - A federal judge has temporarily put the brakes on pre-trial information-gathering in Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s pending lawsuit against the justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. issued a two-sentence order granting the justices’ request to freeze the discovery process until a petition the justices filed last month at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis has been decided.
The petition asks the appellate court to order Moody to correct a legal “error” that justices contend he committed in refusing to dismiss the case against them. The justices say they were entitled to immunity and that the discovery process is time-consuming and invasive.
Griffen is suing the justices over an order they issued last year barring him from presiding over death-penalty cases.
Beaten, robbed by man who offered to sell a TV
LITTLE ROCK - A man was beaten and robbed of $20 by someone he tried to buy a television from Tuesday night, he told Little Rock police.
Officers were called about 8 p.m. to Big Country Chateau apartments, 6200 Colonel Glenn Road, according to a report.
The victim, a 25-year-old Hot Springs man, told police he had stopped by a pawn shop on South University Avenue to buy a television when an individual approached him outside the business.
The stranger reportedly told the victim that he had a television to sell for $50. The 25-year-old said he agreed to the deal and drove the would-be seller to the Big Country Chateau apartment complex.
Once they arrived, the stranger went into a unit and came out empty-handed, according to the report. When the Hot Springs resident asked where the TV was, the assailant took $20 in cash from his hand, then punched him in the face several times, authorities said.
The robber kicked him repeatedly in the chest and stomach, then fled on foot, the report states.
The 25-year-old described the attacker as standing about 6 feet and 1 inch tall, weighing 190 pounds and having a medium complexion and short, wavy hair. He was said to be wearing a red hat, red shirt and blue jeans, according to the report.