A new chief judge was appointed this past week by the District’s federal court after former Federal judge Richard W. Roberts announced his retirement pertaining to some unrevealed health problems that, according to him, forced him to retire.
DC FEDERAL JUDGE REPLACED:
This early retirement though has a little more to the story than what the preceding sentence reveals. Recently, a woman from Utah accused Roberts of assaulting her sexually many decades ago when she was just a 16 year old murder trial Witness under Roberts’ prosecution. This along with the misconduct complaint being filed by the Utah Attorney general’s office on March 7th constitute the series of events that we believe led to the retirement of the judge before time.
Roberts’ attorneys have disregarded the allegations made by the woman and have labelled them categorically false. They did also mention that the Judge indeed had a relationship with the woman but it was after the trial had ended and it was mutually consensual so there was no conflict of interest or coercing involved.
These allegations completely marred the retirement of a 63 year old veteran judge who would otherwise expect to get lauded after his departure from service. While the case is still in progress, we believe that whatever the truth is, it comes to the knowledge of the general public sooner rather than later.
While Roberts’ reputation and life virtually hangs on the balance, his service to the nation can never be undermined. He has been serving with his decisions for a quite long time now and we hope that this blemish on his coat does end up being insignificant and misplaced. If however, there is truth to the allegations, there should be a punishment for him regardless of anything. We just hope that the justice system plays its rightful part in Roberts’ case.
