A Statement of Charges has been filed by the Disciplinary Counsel for the Commission on Judicial Conduct against Pima County Justice of the Peace Paula Aboud. Aboud is accused of taking the answers key to a test she was taking during the Limited Jurisdiction New Judge Orientation in January.
The former state senator and self-described “Democratic Party stalwart,” claims she took the answers as a prank.
Before replacing Gabby Giffords when she decided to run for Congress, Aboud was a high school English teacher and college level coach. Aboud has no legal training.
The Statement of Charges reads in part:
As a newly elected justice of the peace, Aboud was required to attend the “Limited Jurisdiction New Judge Orientation” (LNJO) put on by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). The first week of LNJO took place January 9-1 3, 2017.
At LNJO, experienced judges are assigned as mentor judges to new judges in the limited jurisdiction courts. The mentor judge sits at a u-shaped table with his/her new judges.
At the end of the first week, a test/assessment is given to the LNJO participants to ensure they have a sufficient grasp of the legal materials presented. The mentor judges at LNJO have access to the test/assessment questions and the answer key. For the first week of LNJO in 2017, the questions and answer key were printed on fuchsia colored paper.
On the evening of January 12, 2017, Respondent and other judges stayed late for a study session for the assessment that was to be given on Friday, January 13, 2017. Respondent’s mentor judge, Judge James Sampanes, had a copy of the test questions/answer key in his possession.
Aboud and Judge Sampanes had no prior personal relationship with each other but entered into a mentor/mentee relationship as a result of their presence at LNJO.
When a break was taken in the study session, Judge Sampanes placed his copy of the test questions/answer key face down on his table, and exited the room. The door to the classroom remained open, and Judge Sampanes had an unobstructed view of his table area.
Judge Sampanes observed Aboud reach over to his portion of the table and take the fuchsia colored papers that contained the test questions/answer key.
As Judge Sampanes re-entered the classroom, he observed Aboud conceal the test questions/answer key among her own papers. Judge Sampanes questioned Aboud as to why she had his copy of the test questions/answer key, but Aboud remained silent. Judge Sampanes told her he knew she had them, and then removed the test question/answer key from Aboud’s papers.
Another new judge attending LNJO, Judge Charlene Pesquiera, was advised by her mentor that the fuchsia colored papers contained the test questions/answer key, and she informed Aboud of this information prior to the time when Aboud took Judge Sampanes’ copy of the test questions/answer key.
Upon information and belief, after Judge Sampanes regained possess ion of his copy of the test questions/answer key from Aboud.
Aboud stated to him, “I probably wasn’t even going to read it.”
In verbal communications with employees from the AOC’s Judicial Education Services Division on January 13, 2017, and in written correspondence with the Commission on February 26, 2017, Aboud claimed her conduct was simply an attempt to “play a joke” on Judge Sampanes, who she just recently met.
Aboud did not communicate the explanation she provided to the Commission, as set forth in paragraph 15, to Judge Sampanes at any time.
Judge Sampanes did not interpret or understand Respondent’s conduct to be a joke.
Taking test questions and the answer key at a judicial training, in jest, is not dignified conduct for a judicial officer.
The Disciplinary Counsel requested “that a duly-appointed Commission Hearing Officer find Respondent in violation of the Code, as alleged above; recommends to the Supreme Court that Respondent (Aboud) be censured, suspended, or removed from judicial office; that costs be assessed against Respondent pursuant to Commission Rule 18(e); and that the hearing officer or court grant such other relief as it deems appropriate.”
Aboud claims that Judge Pesquiera watched her “pick up the documents and that Judge Pesquiera believed at that time” that Aboud was “engaging in a prank.”