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Rep. Wyatt files against local judge

Multimedia Editor

Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2012 01:01

 

A circuit judge presiding over Adair County is facing articles of impeachment filed Monday that allege judicial and criminal misconduct.

Russell Steele, circuit judge in the Second Judicial Circuit of Missouri, is accused of perjury, tampering with a witness and exhibiting bias in his duties, among other allegations. The articles of impeachment list more than 15 allegations, including that Steele misused taxpayer money and government resources.

The articles do not list specific dates or evidence for the allegations, and the resolution is not yet on the House schedule. If passed in the House, Steele's case would go to the Missouri Supreme Court.

Bill Thompson, Missouri Supreme Court interim clerk, said he knows about only two cases during the past century in which articles of impeachment filed against judges have passed in the House.

Rep. Zachary Wyatt, R-2, sponsored the resolution, and one allegation states that Steele threatened Wyatt in Wyatt's District Office. Wyatt said Steele confronted him after a constituent asked Wyatt to investigate some campaign finance issues, for which he filed a Missouri Sunshine 

Law request to gain access to campaign finance documents.

Wyatt said Steele criticized him and used "intimidation" 

during the confrontation by attacking Wyatt's work record and suggesting a lack of respect for Steele's position.

Wyatt said he has documentation to support the majority of the charges in the resolution, and has evidence to support the rest.

"I have a whole lot of people that are willing to testify," Wyatt said. 

Wyatt said he spent nearly three months investigating and has requested that the resolution be sent to the House Ethics Committee.

"It's an even number of Republicans and Democrats on the committee, and I want everyone to look at it," he said. "I don't want it to look like a political ploy, because it clearly isn't, and we need to get judges like this off of the bench."

Steele was out of town and unavailable for comment as of Wednesday. 

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