CHARLESTON – A Logan County magistrate is facing discipline after he wrote an opinion piece for at least two newspapers in which he said he wouldn’t be opposed to executing drug dealers.
Magistrate Dwight A. Williamson was charged June 27 by the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission with violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
According to the JIC’s formal statement of charges, Williamson wrote an opinion piece that first was published October 11, 2023, in the Logan Banner and Huntington Herald-Dispatch newspapers. It also apparently appeared in the Williamson Daily News. All of the papers are owned by HD Media.
“It is my opinion that an illegal drug dealer, or trafficker, who is providing fentanyl in any form is a murderer and should be dealt with accordingly,” Williamson wrote in the op-ed, which was headlined “Illegal drug users overwhelm southern WV court system.” “And, although I’m not exactly considered a right-wing radical, I would not be opposed to a law which stated that anyone caught and convicted of transporting deadly illegal drugs into the state of West Virginia could be executed.”
The JIC’s Judicial Disciplinary Counsel opened the judicial ethics complaint against Williamson, who has worked continuously as a Logan County magistrate since January 1, 2001.
The JIC statement of charges, written by Chairman Alan D. Moats, says Williamson violated Rules 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 2.3(A), 2.4(B), 2.10(A), 2.10(B), 3.1(A), 3.1(B) and 3.1(C). Those rules deal with compliance with the law, confidence in the judiciary, impartiality and fairness, bias and prejudice, external influences on judicial conduct, judicial statements on pending/impending cases and extrajudicial activities in general.
In the opinion piece, which Williamson wrote about a rumored Supreme Court plan to regionalize magistrate services to deal with jail costs, he also wrote that “nothing else is working, folks.”
“Frankly, jail is not the answer for a drug addict, and courts cannot keep individuals in jail just because of the person’s drug addiction,” he wrote. “Not only is it costly, but nearly always it’s a waste of time. Drug dealers, on the other hand, need to be behind iron bars.
“It is our people that are suffering and even dying right in front of us. One day you see them (addicts) walking the streets or roads, then shortly thereafter, the death angel usually takes it toll.”
Williamson is no stranger to violating the Rules of Judicial Conduct.
In April 2021, he was suspending 30 days without pay for violating various provision of the Code for posting on social media about a search warrant he issued arising from a possible drug overdose in which he commented “Hope they nail the SOB.”
In April 2019, he was admonished by the JIC for various violations of the code.
In May 2018, he was warned in a JIC dismissal of a complaint about his conduct in relation to rules for writing newspaper columns in which he appeared to be critical of certain state leaders as well as state and federal legislation, announced his approval of the new Logan police chief and discussed “excessive and “not necessary” bonds he set in four criminal cases.
In December 2006, Williams was admonished by the JIC for violating canons of the former Code of Judicial Conduct.
The JIC hearing in the matter is scheduled for August 29.
Judicial Investigation Complaint number 150-2023