CHARLESTON – The state Judicial Investigation Commission has publicly admonished a Logan County circuit judge who failed to respond to a motion to disqualify herself from a case for seven months.
In the December 11 filing, the JIC said Judge Kelly Codispoti violated six rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
According to the admonishment, Christopher Trent filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in September 2022 against the Logan County Development Authority, which never answered the complaint. Trent then filed a motion for default judgment, but Codispoti never ruled on the motion.
Kelly Codispoti
| File photo.
Trent, who lives in Man, is Logan County’s former grant facilitator.
On February 7, 2023, Trent says he was Codispoti’s husband Leonard Codispoti let the LCDA Executive Director Roscoe Adkins out of his car in front of the Logan County Courthouse. Trent then filed a FOIA request with the sheriff’s office to obtain security footage of the interaction between Leonard Codispoti and Adkins. The video showed Adkins entering Leonard Codispoti’s car in front of the courthouse at 10:48 a.m. and exiting the same vehicle about 35 minutes later.
On the morning Trent received the video footage from the sheriff’s office, Kelly Codispoti sent out a notice of hearing on his case set for March 7, 2023. On February 13, 2023, Trent filed a motion to disqualify Kelly Codispoti from the case because of the interaction between her husband and Adkins. On February 28, 2023, Kelly Codispoti did recuse herself from the case.
On March 18, 2024, Trent then filed a lawsuit against the Logan County Commission alleging it had violated the Open Governmental Meetings Act, and Kelly Codispoti was assigned to preside over the case. On April 8, Trent filed a motion to disqualify her as judge on the case, but Codispoti never ruled on the motion and no further action was taken in the case.
On August 28, Trent filed a judicial ethics complaint against Kelly Codispoti when she still had not ruled on the disqualification motion. On October 22, Judicial Disciplinary Counsel sent the complaint to Kelly Codispoti seeking a response.
On November 15, Kelly Codispoti replied and admitted no hearing had taken place and that she did not submit the motion for disqualification and her response to the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court.
“These were mistakes on my part for which if I offered explanations, it would just sound like excuses,” Kelly Codispoti wrote. “However, these mistakes were just that (…) mistakes that should not have occurred. I deny any political reasons for these mistakes.
“I sincerely regret the opinions Christopher Trent has formed as a result of my mistakes but they did not happen to give anyone any advantage in either case. I do not intend to let these types of mistakes happen in the future.”
By a 7-0 vote, the JIC found probable cause to find Kelly Codispoti violated Rules 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.4(B), 2.5(A) and 2.7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct. Those are compliance with the law, confidence in the judiciary, giving precedence to the duties of judicial office, external influences on judicial conduct, competence, diligence and cooperation as well as responsibility to decide.
The JIC also found that formal discipline was not essential because Kelly Codispoti admitted her misdeeds and agreed to refrain from such conduct in the future, but it did find the violations were serious enough for the public admonishment.
The JIC uses the ancient legal maxim that says “Justice delayed is justice denied” and notes Kelly Codispoti’s decision to decline to explain her “mistakes.”
“Respondent (Kelly Codispoti) is not a new judge,” the admonishment, signed by JIC Chairman Alan D. Moats, states. “Certainly after 23 years on the bench, she understands time standards. This is evident by the fact that she addressed the motion to disqualify in the FOIA matter in a reasonably timely manner … Waiting approximately seven months to consider a motion to disqualify in the open meetings case is unacceptable.
“Likewise, failing to hold a hearing on the default judgment motion is insupportable as a mistake without any explanation and particularly when respondent finally scheduled the matter on the same day that complainant picked up video from the Sheriff’s Department showing her husband spending time with the Executive Director of the other party to the FOIA proceeding.
“Is it really coincidental? Unfortunately, without any real explanation, the commission will never know. What we are left with is an appearance, however wrong it may be, that calls into question the integrity, impartiality and independence of the judiciary.”
Trent said he was “disheartened more than anything” by the JIC admonishment.
“It’s no secret that many institutions in Logan County are corrupted to their core, but I truly thought the judiciary was above reproach,” Trent told The West Virginia Record. “More than anything, the statement given by Her Honor to the JIC is asinine. Saying that you won't provide the reasoning for failure to follow the law because it would sound like an excuse is a tactic that we wouldn’t allow kindergarten children to use.
“However, it was successfully deployed by a sitting circuit judge. What happened here is plain to see if you read the admonishment. I hope this serves as a deterrent to corrupt politicos and those who seek to carry their water.”
Trent said he thinks the JIC should have handed down a harsher punishment.
“But I also see how their hands were tied since Judge Codispoti had no previous charges and admitted to her ‘mistake.’” Trent told The Record. “I will forever believe that this was the backup plan if I filed a complaint. If I waited indefinitely, then the problem was solved. If I filed a complaint, they knew that the worst punishment possible was a public admonishment.
“I messed up by not filing a complaint when it happened in the first case.”
Kelly Codispoti has been an attorney since 1980, and she was appointed as a family court judge in 2001. In 2022, she was appointed to the circuit court and was re-elected to an eight-year term last year.
West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission complaint number 168-2024