Judge Brad Karren, a circuit judge in Benton County Arkansas, was caught on video making threatening moves toward former Arkansas house speaker, Davy Carter. The entire incident was described by Davy Carter in a thread on his Twitter stream. It is shocking to say the least.
https://twitter.com/DavyCarter/status/1388702391814533120?s=20
In the video you clearly see that Judge Brad Karren has a gun on his hip, throws his cane down in anger, and aggressively approaches Mr. Carter. What caused this eruption of anger? What led a deputy coming out to justify the judicial outburst? Well, it all happened because Mr. Carter’s son accidentally parked in the judge’s reserved parking spot. The Arkansas Times has reported that the executive director of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission was aware of the incident and that an investigation would be opened.
The Commission reprimand Karren in April 2012 when he was Rogers District Court judge for giving special treatment to an employee and for interfering in a case of a rape suspect whose father had been one of Karren’s clients before he became a judge. The reprimand letter issued by the Commission against Judge Brad Karren can be found here.
Judge Brad Karren has been in the news for other matters such as jailing reporter Nikiruka Omeronge for recording a proceeding in his courtroom. The judge jailed her despite Omeronye saying she recorded the proceedings only for her only personal notes, not to share with the public.
The Commission’s executive director Sachar also noted that Judge Brad Karren is entitled to due process.
Justin Eisele of the Seddiq Law Firm is licensed to practice law in Arkansas. He handles serious state and federal criminal defense cases along with personal injury and police brutality cases.
We will continue to update this blog post with future reporting.
