The Maine bar publicly admonished but stopped short of formally disciplining a former Bangor judge who made unwelcome advances toward two female colleagues during a work conference in 2022.
The decision on Friday by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar means that Charles F. Budd Jr., who previously oversaw the Penobscot County Adult Drug Treatment Court as a District Court judge, will keep his license to practice law in Maine.
The panel, which oversees the conduct of licensed lawyers, initiated disciplinary proceedings against Budd after a former counselor who worked for the treatment court and the district attorney for four midcoast counties sued him for sexual harassment in late 2022. Their lawsuit alleged that Budd made inappropriate comments toward them that July while they were attending the National Association of Drug Court Professionals conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit in mid-2023, but the bar’s grievance commission found evidence that Budd violated a rule for practicing law in Maine following three hearings in October and November. His conduct was “prejudicial to the administration of justice,” the panel determined, meaning it was damaging to the public’s confidence in the court’s fairness.
But overseers felt it constituted “minor misconduct” because Budd’s behavior caused little actual harm to the legal system, and it is unlikely to happen again because he is no longer a judge. Budd, who was first appointed to the bench in 2015 by former Gov. Paul LePage, was placed on administrative leave after the lawsuit was filed and did not seek re-nomination to remain a judge in 2023.
“His comments and behavior were clearly inappropriate and demonstrated a disregard for how they may have impacted others or the public or the administration of justice,” wrote David R. Dubord and Malcolm Dow, members of the commission, in the decision. “An admonition is a public sanction and as such will send a message that comments and behavior of the type described here will not be tolerated.”
Budd’s attorney, Melissa Hewey, did not immediately respond to an email on Monday about whether Budd planned to appeal the admonition.
Budd never acknowledged that his comments, some of which he has disputed, were inappropriate, and he defended his actions as simply trying to get to know his fellow drug court colleagues better in a fun setting outside of work, according to the bar’s decision.
But the bar found that the former judge’s behavior toward Samantha Pike, then a drug court counselor, and Natasha Irving, the district attorney for four counties along the midcoast, during their trip to Nashville made them feel uncomfortable and disrespected, and reasonably so.
The conference took place over four days in late July 2022. After a night of bar hopping on July 26, Budd followed Pike back to her hotel room after telling her that they were staying in neighboring rooms, which was not true, the decision states.
Budd told Pike he wouldn’t enter her room without an invitation, which Pike did not extend. He then asked Pike to join him for drinks at the hotel bar, which she only did “because she did not want to alienate or offend Budd, who was the drug court judge,” according to the decision. Over more drinks at the bar, Budd discussed aspects of his and Pike’s personal lives, including his marriage and whether he favored attractive women who had been sentenced to participate in the treatment court he presided over.
When the drug court team went out to bars the following night, Pike left early and texted Budd to let him know she had returned to her hotel. He replied with messages suggesting “he had been ditched,” the decision stated, and said he would no longer bring donuts to their drug court sessions, referring to the treats he usually brought to their meetings.
When they returned to Maine, Pike did not attend the next scheduled meeting of drug court. At the following meeting, Budd called her alone to his chambers for the first time ever and told her he had been thinking about their conversation in Nashville, told her she was a good listener and said he “was going to be making changes in his personal life,” the decision states.
Pike, “upset at this interaction in light of the interactions she had with Budd in Nashville,” left the courthouse crying and did not attend the afternoon session of drug court.
The bar also found that Budd made a suggestive comment to Irving when a former judicial branch employee introduced them at the conference. When Budd learned that he and the midcoast prosecutor were staying at separate hotels, he “made a comment to the effect that she could stay in his room,” prompting the judicial branch employee to usher the judge away from her,” according to the decision.
As a sitting judge, Budd was expected to act at all times in a manner that promoted the public’s confidence in the judicial system, and avoid any conduct for which even the appearance of impropriety could jeopardize that confidence, Dubord and Dow wrote in the decision.
“Budd’s conduct at the conference in particular was improper and inappropriate. His conduct was directed toward participants in the Maine judicial system and in particular toward Ms. Pike, whose substance abuse clients were subject to Budd’s exercise of judicial discretion,” they wrote. It was also “so disturbing” that she needed to leave work early, they said.
However, the bar did not find there was sufficient evidence that Budd violated rules against harassment and discrimination. Those rules pertain to conduct “related to the practice of law,” meaning conduct that would have occurred, for example, while interacting with clients. Budd’s conduct at the conference did not rise to that level, the decision found.
In deciding how to sanction Budd, the commission weighed discipline ranging from a public chastisement to stripping his license.
Budd damaged confidence in the court and did not seem to recognize why his conduct was inappropriate, but his actions, “although offensive to some, and objectively inappropriate, caused minimal harm to the drug court participants or the public or to the administration of justice,” Dubord and Dow wrote.
As such, his conduct warranted the panel’s least severe punishment. “Admonitions are appropriate only in cases of minor misconduct” resulting in little to no harm and where it’s unlikely that Budd will repeat the offense, according to the decision.
Reporter Callie Ferguson may be reached at [email protected].
