NH Judge Suspended For 60 Days In Emergency Commitment Case
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court has suspended a judge for 60 days without pay after an angry outburst at a deputy sheriff and his related dismissal of an emergency commitment case involving a suicidal 48-year-old woman.
Manchester Circuit Court Judge William Lyons was also ordered to pay $30,000.
He declined to comment on the suspension, a judicial spokeswoman said.
A Judicial Conduct Council referee found that Lyons lost his temper at a deputy who refused to remove restraints from a woman who was the focus of the emergency commitment petition. Lyons then dismissed her case without hearing. The referee said the potential harm of dismissing the petition "was enormous" because the woman was in danger of hurting herself.
It's the first suspension of a New Hampshire judge since 2008.
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