By Zoe Tillman, From The National Law Journal

“Reprehensible conduct” marred the courts, committee tells Congress.

Former Alabama federal judge Mark Fuller, who resigned in August amid an ethics investigation into domestic violence allegations, abused his wife on many occasions and lied to investigators about the assaults, according to a letter the Judicial Conference sent this month to Congress.

The Judicial Conference, the policymaking arm of the federal judiciary, said there was “substantial evidence” that Fuller physically abused his wife at least eight times, including in August 2014, when he was arrested on domestic violence charges. The conference said Fuller made false statements to the special committee that was investigating the abuse allegations.

The Judicial Conference also found that Fuller made false statements to the chief judge of the Eleventh Circuit in September 2010 “in a way that caused a massive disruption in the District Court’s operation and loss of public confidence in the court as an instrument of justice.” The letter, sent on Sept. 11 to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House Judiciary Committee, didn’t provide details on the 2010 statements.

Fuller, reached by phone late Thursday, declined to comment. The lawyer representing Fuller in the judicial ethics investigation, Barry Ragsdale of Sirote & Permutt in Birmingham, Alabama, also declined to comment.

Related: U.S. Judge Arrested on Domestic Abuse Charges Says He’ll Resign

The Judicial Conference acknowledged that the U.S. House of Representatives might not take action since Fuller resigned. The conference said at the very least its findings “may also serve as a public censure of Judge Fuller’s reprehensible conduct, which has no doubt brought disrepute to the Judiciary and cannot constitute the ‘good behavior’ required of a federal judge.”

A House Judiciary Committee spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment, and a federal judiciary spokesman declined to comment.

Fuller was arrested in August 2014 after his wife accused him of assaulting her at a hotel in downtown Atlanta. Fuller agreed to a pre-trial diversion program that included a domestic violence intervention program and alcohol and substance abuse assessment. After completing the program, his arrest was expunged in April, according to NLJ affiliate publication The Daily Report.

The federal judiciary began its own ethics investigation soon after Fuller’s arrest. Fuller notified President Barack Obama in late May that he would resign in August. The Judicial Council of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued an order in June that said Fuller’s conduct “might constitute one or more grounds for impeachment.” The council referred the matter to the Judicial Conference. Fuller’s resignation took effect on Aug. 1.

The Judicial Conference said in its letter to Congress that “in a case with less egregious and protracted conduct,” a judge’s resignation might make any further action unnecessary. But the conference judges decided to refer the matter to Congress “given the severity of the misconduct outlined below, together with a finding of perjury.”

IMAGE:

Then-U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller waits for his case to be called in Fulton County Court on Sept. 5, 2014 to face charges of misdemeanor battery, in Atlanta.

(AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Brant Sanderlin)

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202737526402/Alabama-Federal-Judge-Lied-About-Abuse-Allegations-Judiciary-Reports#ixzz3m6BD3UbA