Judge Robert Fowlkes of Aberdeen, MS: repeat offender, loser

The state of Utah presented Robert Earl Fowlkes with a law license in 1996 after he graduated from Gonzaga University Law School.

The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance found Judge Fowlkes guilty of the following misconduct.

In one matter, Judge Fowlkes argued with a probation officer over whether a man in his courtroom had an outstanding warrant. The argument continued into the clerk’s office where the officer had gone to check on the warrant.

Robert the Bully then ordered the probation officer escorted out of the clerk’s office by police. The man in question regarding an outstanding warrant just happened to be Judge Fowlkes’ “tenant.” Therefore, Fowlkes had a vested financial interest to keep the man out of jail in order that he could continue to pay rent.

Justice Josiah D. Coleman, who wrote the Supreme Court’s decision said in part: “His [Fowlkes] impatience and discourteousness…along with improper threats to hold her [probation officer] in contempt of court, created the appearance that he was influenced by the landlord-tenant relationship and that he was using his office to advance his private interests.”

As one would suspect, this wasn’t Robert’s 1^st bite at the Judicial Misfit Apple Tree. Bobby was previously sanctioned for violating rules that prohibit judges from talking in private with litigants to give them legal advice.

As a consequence of his misconduct, the apologists for Judicial Misfits sitting on the Mississippi Supreme Court punished Bobby by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand.

As we speak (ca. September 2013), Bobby remains as a Judge on the Aberdeen City Court.