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DENVER (KDVR) — A former judge has been publicly censured for actions and communications he had during his tenure as a district court judge in Arapahoe County.
John E. Scipione, formerly an 18th Judicial District Court judge, was suspended without pay from his position on Aug. 9, 2022, rendering his status to “lawyer and judge disability inactive status.” On Jan. 20, the Colorado Supreme Court accepted his resignation, according to Jessica Yates, attorney regulation counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court.
On Nov. 13, Scipione was publicly censured, with the order taking into account “significant mitigating factors.”
Per court documents, Scipione was serving as a district court judge during the summer of 2021 and had a legal assistant and law student interning as a summer law clerk.
During the summer internship, Scipione referred to his legal assistant with a derogatory gendered term, which was not named in the court order. Scipione also “made comments that made the law clerk feel uncomfortable.”
According to the court order, Scipione referred to the law clerk’s arms and hairstyle and joked he was “jealous” of the clerk’s relationship with another court employee.
The court order also records that on one occasion Scipione told the law clerk he was consensually non-monogamous after the clerk inquired about a ring he was wearing. Scipione allegedly went on to discuss details about a “ranch” that “catered to that ‘lifestyle.’” He also asked the law clerk to help him with a Tinder profile.
During the same summer, Scipione also used his judicial email address to speak with a judge presiding over a probate action for his father’s estate, according to the court order. He requested the judge expedite an order of appointment and letters testamentary in the case.
Ultimately, Scipione filed a motion seeking those same actions.
Because of these actions, Scipione violated two Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct, which all barred lawyers are subject to act under, according to the court order:
- RPC 3.5b: A lawyer must not communicate ex parte with a judge (…) unless a judge initiates the communication and the lawyer reasonably believes that the subject matter of the communication is within the scope of the judge’s authority
- RPC 8.4i: A lawyer must not engage in conduct, in connection with the lawyer’s professional activities, that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know constitutes sexual harassment.
Scipione remains on judicial disability inactive status, according to the Colorado Supreme Court’s attorney database.
John Scipione was appointed to an Arapahoe County judgeship in 2017 and to the 18th Judicial District Court in 2018, according to the Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation.
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