A former Probate and Household Court docket decide was fined $4,000 for violating battle of curiosity regulation after appointing his father to a paid place overseeing a house sale, the State Ethics Fee introduced Tuesday.
“A public employee who appoints a family member to a compensated position breaches the public’s trust and undermines public confidence in the employee’s governmental agency, which is especially troubling when the public employee is a judge,” mentioned Ethics Fee Govt Director David Wilson. “The conflict of interest law exists to prevent such breaches and to ensure that all public employees, including judges, act with integrity and impartiality.”
Former Probate and Household Court docket Affiliate Justice Lawrence Military Jr. admitted to violating the state’s battle of curiosity regulation and waived his rights to public listening to in a Disposition Settlement, the fee mentioned Tuesday. Military paid a $4,000 civil superb for the breach.
In December 2022, Military crammed in as a Essex Probate and Household Court docket decide, presiding over divorce proceedings, the discharge mentioned. A earlier decide within the continuing ordered the sale of the couple’s residence, and the sale was nonetheless in rivalry when Military took over the case.
The decide then appointed his father, Lawrence Military Sr., as a Particular Grasp to help within the sale of the house. Within the place, his father would obtain a charge of $450 an hour, the fee mentioned.
The Supreme Judicial Court docket requires fee-generating appointments of this type to be chosen from an inventory of eligible candidates.
“Not only was Army’s father not the next available person on the Essex court’s list, his name did not appear on the list at all,” the fee acknowledged, including Military’s father’s workplace was about 65 miles from the couple’s property.
Earlier than the elder Military might take the place, First Justice Frances Giordano vacated the appointment and chosen a unique Particular Grasp for the job, the discharge mentioned. The daddy didn’t obtain any cash from the place.
Battle of curiosity legal guidelines in Massachusetts prohibit any state worker from “participating in matters in which members of their immediate family have a financial interest” or “using or attempting to use their official positions to obtain valuable, unwarranted benefits for anyone.”
The fee urged any public workers to contact their Authorized Division without cost recommendation concerning battle of curiosity guidelines.
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