Embattled Associate District Judge Brian Lovell has been suspended over allegations he engaged in sexual activity and other misconduct at the courthouse during working hours, the Daily Caller reported. Lovell, 58, was previously implicated in a pair of drive-by shooting incidents.
The judge was given an immediate suspension for allegedly "exchanging sexually graphic messages and images with court staff during courthouse hours and engaging in sexual intercourse with court staff inside the courthouse during courthouse hours." The suspension is temporary, and Lovell has until July 8 to respond.
Lovell's troubles date back to 2011, when he was hired. The judge did not disclose his romantic relationship with bailiff Natalie Marshall at the time, which came to light after Marshall revealed it upon her exit from the job.
The judge then engaged in sexual activity "during courthouse hours" with Cynthia Tubbs, who was hired as bailiff in 2011 to replace Marshall. Tubbs and Lovell exchanged explicit messages and images, including one sent just as the judge was about to record a defendant's plea.
Aside from the romantic trysts, Lovell has also allegedly engaged in corruption during his tenure with the Garfield County, Oklahoma, court, Fox News reported. He favored one attorney in particular, who was able to hammer out advantageous deals for his clients through text messages with Lovell.
The judge congratulated the attorney on his "brilliant" decision not to cross-examine one of the witnesses in a case while complimenting him on his technique with another. Lovell called the attorney's professional work "excellent" but failed to compliment any other lawyers.
Lovell was so enamored with this attorney that the judge admitted he gave his client a better bond arrangement because of him. He even went out of his way for one of the attorney's other clients by granting a protective order to a funeral home that the favored lawyer represented.
When all of this was about to come to light during an investigation, Lovell attempted to cover it up. He allegedly "seal[ed] a court file with no justification" before he "attempt[ed] to persuade an attorney to give false testimony to the Council on Judicial Complaints."
The council concluded that the judge "has demonstrated a lack of respect for the judicial office with which he is entrusted and an ongoing pattern of misconduct and dishonesty." Its petition said that Lovell's "lack of temperament to serve as a judge, undermining public confidence in the independence, integrity, impartiality, and competence of the judiciary."
The most sensational of Lovell's alleged misdeeds include drive-by shootings in two states. In September 2023, Lovell racked up eight felonies after allegedly unloading five shots from his Glock 23 .40-caliber pistol while driving in Austin, Texas, the New York Post reported.
After leaving bullet holes in several vehicles, Lovell allegedly turned up an hour later and rear-ended a woman's vehicle in a road rage incident. He was accused of trying to force her vehicle into the oncoming lane during this twisted rampage.
Then, in March of this year, Lovell was charged with a similar crime in Oklahoma, this time for allegedly shooting up his brother-in-law's home. He's accused of using the same weapon as the other incident but claimed the gun was stolen just two days after the crime.
Lovell's attorney, Stephen Jones, who is defending him in the Oklahoma case, claimed that there was no proof. "As far as the merits of the charge and the defense, we do not at this time have the discovery material which, in due course, will be made available to us. From our own investigation, the evidence is insufficient to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt," Jones said.
If these allegations are true, this judge must have believed he was above the law. Perhaps he was able to operate as such for a long time, but now it appears to be catching up to him.
