CHARLESTON – The state Judicial Investigation Commission has publicly admonished a Wood County family court judge for posts he made on social media.
In the October 21 public admonishment, the JIC said Judge C. Darren Tallman of the 3rd Family Court Circuit. The JIC, with a 6-1 vote, found probable cause that Tallman violated several rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Two complaints were filed against Tallman. The first one was filed by Mark Goudy, who attached a photo of Tallman wearing a Bane mask and his judicial robe that had been taken in Tallman’s courtroom. The image was used as Tallman’s Google profile photo.
Tallman
| File photo
Bane is a villain of Batman in the comics. He often is credited as the only villain to have bested Batman mentally and physically. He was born in a remote Caribbean prison and “raised without pity or compassion,” according to the JIC filing. As an adult, Bane served as a test subject for a super steroid.
Tallman says the photo initially was taken as a joke for his sons during the COVID pandemic. He said he didn’t know much about Bane except that he was a villain. He says he removed the photo from his Google profile when he received a copy of the complaint about it.
“It started out as me texting my kids back and forth,” Tallman said. “We were all making sure we wore our masks because that was during the masking period. And I put it on and said, ‘Well, I’ve got mine on.’ And that’s how the picture was originally taken. I didn’t tweet it out or put it on Twitter right away or anything like that. … It was originally just a text between me and my kids.”
Tallman said the mask belonged to his son and “took it with him that day to joke with.” The filing says Tallman admitted it was a mistake to use the photo on social media.
“It could give the wrong idea about a judge or judges … that we’re Batman villains, I guess, yes,” Tallman said.
The second complaint was filed by Judicial Disciplinary Counsel regarding several posts on Tallman’s profile on X, formerly Twitter.
The first involves public endorsements of Donald Trump and opposition to Joe Biden in the presidential election. While Tallman would not agree the posts endorsed Trump and opposed Biden, he did say he supports Trump and not Biden and how the public could misconstrue the posts. He agreed these posts violated the rules of Code of Judicial Conduct.
A series of other posts deal with comments about sexual orientation or gender.
Tallman reposted one March 5 that said, “There’s only 2 genders. At the end of the day, you’re a cut-up, drugged up, dressed up man or woman. You didn’t change the DNA God gave you. This is demonic.” Tallman admitted the post could create the idea that he was anti-transexual and that he shouldn’t have reposted it.
Another repost showed two women in tight fitting dresses with the caption, “Can we just skip the election and have these two mud wrestle on the floor of the house to decide which old geriatric gets in office.” Tallman also admitted that post was inappropriate.
Another repost said, “Roe v. Wade … The Supreme Court Changed our Sex Lives Forever.” Above that, Tallman wrote “this is great!” He also admitted this post was inappropriate.
And a third set of posts deal with comments about marriage and divorce.
In one post, Tallman wrote, “I’m always disappointed when I hear about a high profile conservative like Lauren Boebert getting a divorce. I realize there may be legitimate reasons but maybe there isn’t. Conservatives have a higher standard of morality that we have to adhere to in order to be an example.”
In another post, he wrote, “Marriage is still the best way to bond a father to his children / Institute for Family Studies.”
Tallman said he made those statements, but he said he can be a fair and impartial judge despite his opinions.
The JIC ruled formal discipline was not essential because Tallman admitted his errors and agreed to refrain from such conduct in the future.
“Judges are not precluded from using social media, but they cannot expect to be treated like every other member of the public given the restrictions placed on them by the Code of Judicial Conduct,” the admonishment states. “Therefore, judges must exercise extreme caution when posting on social networking sites.”
Tallman had 14 days from the receipt of the public admonishment to file a written objection, which was signed by JIC Chairman Alan D. Moats.
Judicial Investigation Commission of West Virginia complaint numbers 82-2024 and 110-2024