Fayette County family court Judge Kathy Stein has been suspended for a second time by a state panel.
According to the Lexington Herald Leader, Judge Kathy Stein confirmed her suspension yesterday afternoon but would not say why Judicial Conduct Commission handed it down. According to her lawyer Jim Deckard, the suspension will last for 30 days.
“I’ve been meeting with them a long time.” Stein told the paper regarding the commission’s latest decision.
Stein was last suspended in September after the commission received information that an attorney representing a father in a custody case approached her in December 2015 and asked her to grant the father immediate temporary custody of the couple’s child. That request was granted without holding a hearing or giving the mother a chance to respond.
The commission claimed that Stein violated ethics rules, including a standard on giving everyone with an interest in a legal proceeding a right to present their case before a judgment is ruled and she agreed saying “I jumped the gun and did not give the mother an opportunity to be heard.” Stein was suspended without pay.