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Accuses Judge of Violating Ethics Ludmilla Lelis DAYTONA BEACH -- Volusia County Judge Steven deLaroche was accused Wednesday of deliberately violating judicial ethics by interfering with cases assigned to other judges and dismissing five traffic tickets, including one for his father-in-law. The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission filed the charges against deLaroche with the Florida Supreme Court as the first step in a disciplinary case that could lead to fines, a suspension or his removal from the bench. Through his attorney, he denied any improper conduct in throwing out the traffic tickets and blamed his involvement with his father-in-law's case on a short-term bout of depression. Two cases involved the daughter of a former client and another involved a local attorney. Before becoming a judge, deLaroche had been an attorney in private practice. "Judge deLaroche deeply regrets casting any doubts upon his service as a judge in this state, and he believes that once all the facts are made known through the judicial review process that he will be exonerated," said his attorney, Chobee Ebbets, in a written statement. DeLaroche will continue his work in Daytona Beach, overseeing a criminal docket, Ebbets said. Though the state commission receives about 450 to 500 complaints about judges each year, very few lead to a public disciplinary case, commission executive director Brooke Kennerly said. The commission averages about six to eight such cases a year. The commission's last Volusia case led to the removal of Gayle Graziano as circuit judge in 1997. DeLaroche has 20 days to respond to the charges, which could lead to a public hearing. However, many accused judges end their cases by agreeing to discipline in writing, Kennerly said. The 42-year-old Ormond Beach judge was elected to the bench six years ago, putting up more than $144,000 of his own money for what became the most expensive judicial race in Volusia history. The contest also featured mudslinging -- rare in judicial races -- between him and opponent Valerie Foote. He automatically retained his post this year when no one challenged his re-election bid. DeLaroche also was an administrative county judge for Volusia within the 7th Judicial Circuit, but he resigned those duties, circuit court spokeswoman Molly Justice said. The administrative duties include oversight of the county court, the distribution of cases and the assignments for the county judges, she said. On Wednesday, the judicial commission, the agency which investigates judges, wrote that it found probable cause to believe deLaroche mishandled five traffic cases during the past 13 months. Viewed together, the five cases "constitute a pattern and practice of deliberate misconduct," the commission wrote. His 62-year-old father-in-law, Hugh Avant, was cited by a Volusia deputy for driving 71 mph in a 55-mph zone, court records show. The ticket in December would have cost Avant a $115.50 fine and was assigned to another judge, but deLaroche signed an order to dismiss the case, records show. Ebbets said deLaroche did that while depressed and grieving the death of his grandfather. "His grandfather had been an important father figure in his life, and this happened on the day he came back to court," Ebbets said. "He was the only judge working that day because the other judges were at a conference." The other instances follow a similar pattern in which de- Laroche dismissed cases assigned to other judges, though deLaroche, through his attorney, denied being friends with those other people. "He legally dismissed charges based upon the facts of the case and in accordance with the law," Ebbets wrote. The most serious case involved an attempt by de- Laroche to throw out another judge's decision to suspend the drivers license of James W. Silvis IV for five years, the commission wrote. Only after the presiding judge questioned deLaroche's move did he abandon the attempt. Silvis was cited for driving with a suspended license and had been stopped by a Volusia deputy for speeding, according to court records. Silvis' mother said Wednesday her son and deLaroche are not acquainted. "He doesn't know any judge personally," Sheena Silvis said. "He's just a 24-year-old roofer." According to the commission report, two tickets involved 29-year-old Jennifer Lopez, identified by the commission as the daughter of a former client, who was not identified. The commission accused deLaroche of dismissing the tickets after contact with that former client so that she didn't have to pay either of the $115.50 fines. Lopez could not be reached for comment. Attorney William R. Alexander also didn't have to pay a $115.50 speeding ticket when deLaroche dismissed the case in February, records show. Alexander did not return phone messages left at his Daytona Beach office. Judge Charged with Violation of State Rules for Ticket Fixes By Jay Stapleton DAYTONA BEACH -- A Volusia County judge elected in 2000 with the most expensive campaign in local history now faces being knocked off the bench amidst charges he fixed tickets for people, including his father-in-law. Judge Steven J. deLaroche , 42, of Ormond Beach was charged by the investigative panel of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission with violating the state rules by dismissing traffic citations assigned to other judges five times between June 2005 and February of this year. DeLaroche was the administrative leader of the group of county judges and was just granted another six-year term on the bench after he ran for re-election unopposed. He stepped down from the top job, but remains on the bench amid the charges. The judge's lawyer acknowledged that deLaroche shouldn't have handled his father-in-law's traffic case. He made "an error in judgment" in handling the case due to "an acute, but serious depression" he was diagnosed with following the death of his grandfather, who was "a father figure in his life," defense lawyer Chobee Ebbets said. "It was like he lost his father." Because such investigations are kept confidential under law until charges are announced, the accusations were met with surprise in the Daytona Beach courthouse where deLaroche has heard drunken driving and other misdemeanor cases since he took office in 2001. According to court documents, traffic violations against four people, including the daughter of a former client, a local attorney and deLaroche's father-in-law, were assigned to other judges but dismissed by deLaroche. When he ran for judge, deLaroche got noticed by spending an unprecedented $141,880 in Volusia and Flagler counties on his campaign. He rented a mini-blimp to fly inside the Ocean Center that said "Vote Steve." He earns a $130,000 annual salary. The first incident occurred in June 2005, when attorney G. Kipling Miller brought deLaroche a motion to dump the conviction of a South Daytona man who had earlier pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license. DeLaroche signed the order, saving James Silvis from having his driver's license suspended for five years, according to court records. DeLaroche later vacated his order -- and Silvis' conviction stood -- when the original judge questioned the decision. "These charges cumulatively constitute a pattern and practice of deliberate misconduct," Tampa attorney Marvin Barkin wrote in the charging document he filed for the commission. If proven to be true in a hearing later, deLaroche could face as little as a reprimand or as severe a penalty as removal. Ebbets said deLaroche regrets casting any doubt on his service as judge, and believes he will be exonerated once the facts are known. DeLaroche declined to comment on the charges because "it would not be proper for him to do so," but his attorney, Ebbets, of Daytona Beach, released a statement in which he denied deLaroche did anything to "intentionally or deliberately" discredit "the integrity of his judicial office." Ebbets said deLaroche legally dismissed the charges based on the facts of each and the law, and did so in open court. "He did not allow any professional contact with the persons involved to influence his decision," he said. "Judges in Volusia County routinely handle cases for one another." But the case likely to raise the most eyebrows occurred in January, when deLaroche dismissed a ticket issued to his father-in-law, Hugh B. Avant, 62, of New Smyrna Beach. Avant was ticketed in December by a Volusia County sheriff's deputy for failing to obey a traffic signal. DeLaroche had just lost his grandfather, Ebbets said, and returned to work unaware of the full impact of his personal loss. But he defended the tossed ticket, which Avant got while on his way to the funeral of deLaroche's grandfather in DeLand. "The dismissal of his father-in-law's traffic citation was based upon legally sufficient grounds," Ebbets said. "However Judge deLaroche clearly understands he should not have handled any matter involving a family member at any time." The last Volusia County judge to be thrown from the bench was in 1997, when Circuit Judge Gayle Graziano was removed by the high court for using her position as chief judge to get her longtime housemate and business partner a job with the court, and then trying to get her a raise and promotion. Graziano, who now practices law in Daytona Beach, was also found guilty of verbally abusing court personnel. jay.stapleton@news-jrnl.comDismissed tickets These are the people whose traffic citations were dismissed by Judge Steven deLaroche, according to the Judicial Qualifications Commission: JUNE 2005: James W. Silvis IV, 25, South Daytona, no relationship. DeLaroche vacated a conviction from another judge for unknowingly operating a motor vehicle while under suspension. DeLaroche's order was later reversed. Records show Silvis had 26 traffic citations between 1997 and 2004. NOVEMBER 2005: Jennifer Lopez, 29, Ormond Beach, daughter of a former law practice client. The judge dismissed a citation assigned to another judge for failure to obey a traffic signal, then a second citation assigned to another judge for careless driving. JANUARY 2006: Hugh Avant, 62, New Smyrna Beach, father-in-law. Dismissed a citation assigned to another judge for failure to obey a traffic signal. FEBRUARY 2006: William R. Alexander, 36, local attorney, Ormond Beach, no relationship. The judge dismissed a citation assigned to another judge for failure to obey a traffic signal. SOURCES: Volusia County Court and Florida Supreme Court records
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