These were the options mentioned in his seven-page memorandum submitted to the Supreme Court.
The court will hold a formal hearing today to determine what sanction will be imposed on Govendo who was found to have violated judicial canons and rules for saying “adios muchacho” to a wife beater.
The judge earlier informed the court that he had not found any cases of judicial sanctioning in the states similar to his own.
Govendo said he “believes that this is because cases like his were most likely handled by private admonishment rather than by public reprimand.”
Bradley, in his memo, said: “It is difficult to consider the facts of this case without wondering whether the incidents the court has before it may merely be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.”
He added, “It does not seem plausible that the court now knows of all incidents of misconduct [Govendo] has engaged in. The court might consider a period of suspension for the bench with such suspension, at respondent’s election, to be held in abeyance with respondent placed on probation while an audit is undertaken of the past few years of hearings he has conducted. (Such should be in addition to the other terms of discipline….).”
If Govendo does not choose to take advantage of such a probationary term, Bradley said the judge should be “ordered to serve the period of suspension although the audit should go forward nonetheless.”
He added, “If additional problematic hearings are discovered they should be brought to the court’s attention for a determination of whether the suspension ought to be fully imposed or, if suspension has already been invoked, a new ethics matter may need to be instituted. If an audit is conducted and turns up significant issues with respondent on probation there must be an avenue through which more serious discipline than imposition of the stayed suspension could be pursued.”
In a footnote in his memorandum, Bradley said: “Throughout most of the life of this matter, the undersigned has been of the opinion that misconduct indeed occurred and that an appropriate sanction would be the administering of a public reprimand to [Govendo] by the court together with an order that respondent attend judicial conduct training as deemed appropriate by the court and that he reimburse the court for all costs and expenses incurred relative to this matter.”
Bradley said he “no longer recommends that [the Supreme Court] limits its consideration of the appropriate discipline. [Govendo] has yet to acknowledge wrongdoing of any sort, regardless of this court’s entry of an order making multiple findings on misconduct.”
