![]() ![]() “Boilerplate letters denying the judge’s specific canon violations absolve the judge of their wrongdoing, emboldening them,” said Margherita Downey, the lawyer for Spleha and Bentrim. Still, it’s easy to see how an obviously biased judge who disregards a party’s rights and hangs onto their case violates the Code of Judicial Conduct, a list of seven commandments called canons.Ĭanon 2 states, “A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge’s activities.” Canon 3 states, “A judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially and diligently.” “The concerns you have expressed are not allegations involving a breach of the Code of Judicial Conduct warranting further action by the Commission but are matters for review through the normal court process,” says the note the women received from JQC executive director Blan Teagle. In response to Spleha’s and Bentrim’s personal accounts of dealing with Shull, the JQC ran superficial screenings and closed out their complaints with an impersonal notice. She recalled Francis screaming at her and setting a hearing so quickly, “I had no time to hire a lawyer.” “I felt ambushed and demeaned, like I do now with Judge Shull,” Spleha’s affidavit says. 30 complaint about Shull, Spleha said she had similar reactions to Shull and Francis. In a sworn affidavit attached to her Nov. ![]() ![]() Like Marcial, they are mothers who say Shull showed bias against them.īefore Shull, the judge in charge of Spleha’s and Bentrim’s cases was Renatha Francis, now a Florida Supreme Court justice. The commission rejected two previous complaints about Shull from Andrea Spleha of Davie and Angela Bentrim of Loxahatchee. The JQC weeds out weak claims, investigates and hears misconduct charges that pass a “probable cause” test, and recommends disciplinary measures to the Florida Supreme Court for final decisions. Shull declined Florida Bulldog’s request for a response, writing, “I cannot comment on these matters.” “He has diminished the public confidence in the judiciary and thereby has done injury to the system of government under law.” Instead, he has created a court that is no longer looking out for the wellbeing of the children, but one that actually hurts them,” the complaint says. Shull “has not upheld the impartiality of the judicial system. Late last week, Marcial filed a complaint against him with the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), the designated ethics monitor for state court judges. Custin’s lawyer used this rule to disqualify the entire Broward Circuit Court bench from hearing the custody case. When a party has good reason to fear bias, a court rule compels the judge to give up the case. She wants to relocate their sons to New Hampshire Custin, of Kendall in Miami-Dade County, wants to wrest custody away from her. Marcial says the connections among Shull, DeSantis and Custin influence Shull to favor Custin and treat her unfairly in their ongoing custody battle. DeSantis appointed criminal defense lawyer Shull to Palm Beach Circuit Court in April 2022 two months later the Custin-Marcial case wound up on his docket. The father is Marcial’s ex-husband Custin, a political consultant and lobbyist whose clients include Lt. Meanwhile, the 4th DCA is weighing her arguments to remove and replace Shull. “It is insane how they are treating my kids like Yo-Yos, like objects,” Marcial said when the 4th DCA first tabled, then supported a Shull order telling sheriffs to pick up her two sons and take them to their father. Yet, oddly, this recent ruling hasn’t affected a case pending in the same court, Nanea Marcial v. Six months ago the Fourth District Court of Appeal removed Shull from a case with the same issues the women describe. Regulators brushed aside at least two formal complaints against him a higher court removed him from one case, but that was an exception. No supervisory judges or ethics regulators have censured Shull for his work in Palm Beach Circuit Court. When challenged for bias, Shull fights to keep his cases instead of stepping down like judges who want to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Three mothers, parties in Judge Darren Shull’s family court, accuse him of taking this approach: Listen to the fathers, ignore the mothers’ conflicting evidence and rule for the men.
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