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Suspension of Judge DuBose causes scramble to cover cases
Monday, retired Circuit Judge Harold Crow was on the bench in Judge DuBose's courtroom at the Clarke County Courthouse, calling the docket and handling other routine cases. He also handled Presiding Judge Tom Baxter's docket call since Baxter was still involved in a civil trial that had carried over from the previous week. There are three retired circuit judges in the First Judicial Circuit eligible to hear cases- Crow and Hardie Kimbrough, both of Thomasville and Richmond Pearson of Leroy. Lee McPhearson of Butler is also a former judge but stepped down before becoming eligible to draw retirement benefits and is therefore not eligible to hear cases. All the district judges in the First Judicial Circuit have been authorized to hear circuit court matters. These judge sare Bill Kimbrough of Clarke County, Pedro Scurlock of Choctaw County and Jerry Turner of Washington County. In addition, Circuit Judge Dawn Hare of Monroe County, District Judge Wade Drinkard of Marengo County and retired Circuit Judge Braxton Kittrell of Mobile County have been mentioned as possible fillins. The problem is that, other than the retired judges- some of whom are still hearing occasional cases- all of the other circuit and district judges have full dockets of their own to tend to and may be able to hear a few extra cases but may not have the time to take on many. It should be understood that Judge DuBose has been suspended. He is still drawing pay and cannot be replaced unless he resigns or a trial is held before the Court of the Judiciary and he is found guilty and removed from the bench. A trial may not take place for a few months.
A full-time judge cannot be named to fulfill his duties in the interim so lawyers and fill-in judges will "wing it," as one lawyer was overheard to say Monday, until the matter is resolved.
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