Former Bangor judge accused of harassment violated rules of conduct for attorneys, panel finds

Yahoo

18-02-2025

Feb. 17—The Maine bar has agreed to publicly admonish a former Bangor judge, but not to impose any discipline against him, for unwelcome comments he made to women at a professional conference.
Charles Budd was in charge of Bangor's drug treatment court in 2022 when he and several others in the program attended a multiday conference in Nashville. There, drug treatment counselor Samantha Pike said, Budd sexually harassed her several times.
Pike has previously said Budd appeared to drink more than what was appropriate while in Nashville, where he was surrounded by attorneys, counselors and probation officers he regularly oversaw in court. His sexual propositions and comments about Pike's appearance and that of other women made her uncomfortable when they returned to Maine, she has said
Budd was placed on administrative leave that fall, according to the state judicial branch. When his term expired in early 2023, he chose not to reapply.
Budd did not respond to an email Monday afternoon seeking his reaction to the panel's decision.
On Friday, members from a disciplinary panel for the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar determined Budd had violated Maine's rules for professional conduct, specifically those barring any activity "prejudicial to the administration of justice."
Budd should have known his comments to Pike and others "would be construed as sexual advances or unwelcome," they said. The admonition is supposed to "send a message that comments and behavior of the type described here will not be tolerated."
"As a sitting judge, Budd was bound by the Maine Code of Judicial Conduct which requires judges to 'act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the ... integrity ... of the judiciary; to avoid impropriety; and to avoid the appearance of impropriety," two of the three panel members wrote.
But the board did not find that Budd had violated their rules against harassment, because his conduct occurred at a conference in Nashville and not in a more professional setting, like a courtroom or a law office.
Unlike the American Bar Association, Maine's standards don't address alleged harassment that might occur in "business or social activities in connection with the practice of law," the panel wrote. The members decided this is a "seemingly intentional omission."
Pike previously sued Budd for his conduct on the Nashville trip. That complaint was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Lance Walker in 2023.
Pike was still waiting Monday to see if the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upholds that dismissal.
The Maine bar panel's decision Friday does not make any findings on allegations that Budd treated women differently in his court, despite testimony about this from a Penobscot County prosecutor.
During a three-day hearing in October, the panel heard extensively from Budd, Pike and other witnesses from the Nashville trip.
Natasha Irving, a district attorney on the Midcoast, told the panel Budd had propositioned her during a brief encounter in Tennessee.
The panel agreed Budd was wrong to also make her feel uncomfortable.
The panel noted that Budd admitted to some of the alleged statements and disputed others. But he "never acknowledged that any of the conduct alleged ... was inappropriate and could reasonably be construed as making others uncomfortable."
Budd repeatedly cast his actions as getting to know other drug court participants "on a personal level," the panel members wrote, and "never acknowledged that his status as a judge created an imbalance of power."
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