Alabama COJ Suspends Sexting Judge Six Months but Chief Justice Moore for Life

   Tallapoosa County Probate Judge Leon Archer was suspended in August for six months without pay after the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) filed a judicial ethics complaint against him related to exchanging sexually explicit messages with a woman who was a former litigant in his court. 

   The same Court of the Judiciary (COJ) that suspended Chief Justice Moore for life, suspended the sexting judge for only six months.

   Archer, who became a probate judge in January 2013, issues marriage licenses and performs marriages. Judge Archer developed a relationship with a woman whom he met in his capacity as a probate judge when she came in for a marriage license with her husband.  According to the complaint, the marriage was soon annulled. Archer began sending the woman sexually explicit messages on Facebook for three weeks, including nude photos of his genitals. Most of Archer’s communications took place during work hours at the county courthouse. The 64-page complaint includes printed messages between Archer and the woman, including “What happened to us hooking up?” and other pornographic statements.

   On the same day that the COJ heard arguments from Moore on the motion for summary judgement in August 2016, they also heard from Judge Archer.

   In six months, Archer will return to the bench, but Moore is suspended for the rest of h ...