The judge routinely made fun of the people who appeared before him. He profanely called one man a donkey?s rear end. He derided another as a “crackhead.”
He even chided a woman for bringing her child to court, because, he said, “I hate kids.”
But Friday, Baltimore County District Judge Bruce Lamdin wasn?t in a joking mood — as Maryland?s highest court heard a disciplinary case against him.
“He?s embarrassed and ashamed of his actions,” Lamdin?s attorney, Alvin Frederick, told the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Lamdin also insulted judges on Baltimore County?s Circuit Court — implying they?re lazy — and law enforcement in Baltimore City, implying it?s soft of crime.
Frederick said the judge has improved his behavior, vowed not to insult the citizens who appear before him or other members of the judiciary. He?s also meeting with several more experienced judges for guidance, Lamdin?s attorney said.
A former defense attorney, Lamdin, a judge since 2002, was trying to help those people who appeared before him by speaking bluntly, Frederick said.
He was trying to talk to them “in a way they could understand,” Frederick argued.
But Peter Keith, an attorney representing Maryland?s Commission on Judicial Disabilities, said he recommended a 30-day unpaid suspension for Lamdin.
Lamdin?s behavior “led the public to question judicial integrity and impartiality,” Keith argued.
Judge Lynn Battaglia, the former Maryland U.S. Attorney, seemed particularly dismayed by Lamdin?s comments.
“It?s a series of events,” she said. “It?s repeated behavior over time.”
Battaglia even gave Lamdin a bit of his own medicine.
“It seems to me that he has to be deaf, dumb and blind to not understand this court is very concerned with professionalism,” she said.
After the 40-minute hearing in Annapolis, Lamdin declined comment.
Maryland?s highest court could rule on the discipline for Lamdin at any time.
