The Herald Bulletin
In Summary: In his last week on the bench, Judge Fredrick Spencer’s dismissal of a charge against City Councilman Ollie Dixon added another blotch to his spotty record.
It would have been nice for Madison Circuit Court Judge Fredrick Spencer, who resigned while his conduct was being investigated by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications, to leave the bench quietly and humbly. But that’s not his nature.
Controversial to the very end, Spencer moved quickly on Thursday — his next to last day as a judge — to dismiss a charge against Anderson City Councilman Ollie Dixon.
Dixon had been arrested back in March and charged with driving while intoxicated. While awaiting release from the Madison County Jail, he was discovered in possession of a handgun. In May, a grand jury convened by special prosecutor J.A. Cummins, issued an indictment against Dixon on a charge of criminal recklessness. And in June, Dixon pleaded guilty to the DWI charge.
After hearing arguments Tuesday on a defense motion to dismiss the criminal recklessness charge, Spencer did so on Thursday.
Since Spencer and Dixon are both Democrats, it certainly appears that Spencer was motivated to dismiss the charges against Dixon by more than just a sense of righteousness.
Spencer wrote in the court order granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss, “The State’s failure to combine the charges (DWI and criminal recklessness) prior to allowing the defendant to plead guilty in Anderson City Court now bars it from continuing its prosecution against the defendant in this matter (the recklessness case).”
Spencer would argue that he’s merely following the law. But taking a common-sense perspective from outside the courtroom, it appears that he’s letting a political crony off the hook on a serious charge.
Spencer’s 26 years on the bench have been riddled with trouble for not following procedure and rules of conduct.
In 2003, he was suspended for 30 days after appointing a special prosecutor without having a hearing in a 2001 case concerning the placing of explosives around attorney John Blevins’ home.
In 2001, he was reprimanded by the commission on judicial qualifications for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judicial candidates from making promises of conduct in office, making statements to commit them to issues likely to come before the court and failing to maintain the dignity of the office.
And in 1999, the commission publicly admonished Spencer for his handling of a child custody case.
The most recent investigation of Spencer’s conduct sprung from comments he allegedly made to a defense attorney in the case of Kathy Jo Ward, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2007 for the death of her husband.
Spencer allegedly told attorney Bryan Williams before the sentencing hearing that he had already decided what Ward’s sentence would be. Spencer later allegedly declined to reduce Ward’s sentence because defense counsel “had toyed with him by allowing Ms. Ward to appeal her conviction.”
There are those who know Spencer as a good and honorable man who is interested in serving the community. But his history of rash moves on the bench created a reputation for his judgeship that Madison County is better off without.
His parting move to dismiss the charge against Councilman Dixon demonstrates again that Spencer exercised questionable judgment in fulfilling his public duty.
