| ► Judge Eddie Bowen of Raleigh, MS; ethical gremlin |
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Judge Eddie Bowen of Raleigh, MS; ethical gremlin
The state of Mississippi presented Eddie Bowen with a law license in 1980 after he graduated from Seton Hall University of Mississippi Law School.
In September 2010, former Gov. Haley Barbour was duped into appointing Eddie to the Smith County Circuit Court. Eddie didn’t receive the appointment because he was the most qualified attorney in the area. He received it because he had proven to be a reliable lackey for the local political hacks for many years.
The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance found Judge Bowen guilty of the following misconduct.
Eddie presided over an asbestos lawsuit wherein Union Carbide was the defendant. After the trial, the plaintiff’s were awarded $322 million.
Despite the fact that his father had previously entered an asbestos-related settlement with Union Carbide, Eddie refused to remove himself from the case. Apparently, Eddie had trouble understanding the legal definition involving the “appearance” of judicial bias.
Of course Eddie didn’t tell Union Carbide’s attorney’s about his father’s history prior to the trial, and he failed to rule on Union Carbide’s post-trial motion asked that he remove himself from the case.
This wasn’t the first time that Eddie was involved in a case that demanded he remove himself. Two years earlier, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered that Eddie be removed from a lawsuit brought by a man who said Union Carbide and Chevron Phillips Chemical were responsible for his exposure to asbestos.
After the Supreme Court removed Eddie, the case was retried by an unbiased judge, and the new jury sided with Union Carbide.
As a consequence of his misconduct, the enablers for Judicial Misfits sitting on the Mississippi Supreme Court punished Eddie by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand.
As we speak (ca. October 2013), Eddie continues to sit as a Smith County 13th Circuit Court Judge in Raleigh, Mississippi.
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