Suspension — not removal — recommended for Anne Arundel judge

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ANNAPOLIS — Investigative counsel for the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities on Friday stopped short of recommending that Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court Chief Judge Vickie Gipson be removed from office.

Tanya Bernstein, investigative counsel for the commission, recommended that her case be referred to the Maryland Supreme Court, that she be suspended without pay, and that she receive mentoring, education and training.

Bernstein said Gipson failed to accept responsibility and her conduct raises “serious questions about whether she should continue serving in judicial office.”

Bernstein argued that Gipson invoked her title as chief judge of the court to advance personal interests, that she changed the court’s hours contrary to law and sought to circumvent commission procedure.

“Respondent seems to believe that laws or policies do not apply to her,” Bernstein said, adding she did not “tolerate real or perceived challenges to her authority.”

The period for which she asked for Gipson’s suspension without pay was unclear.

Gipson and a fellow judge, Marc Knapp, are both facing discipline for an escalating personal conflict during which the two frequently argued at work and could not cooperate. Lawyers for the commission in October recommended Knapp be removed from office.

Gipson eventually obtained a temporary peace order against Knapp, required security in the judges‘ chambers, and had 911 called when Knapp decided to work in the courtroom instead of the chambers. In an effort to get Knapp immediately and permanently removed, Gipson went to this commission, the judiciary’s office of fair practices, a task force that monitors threats to judges, and even to Maryland Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Fader. Gipson claimed she was acting on Bernstein’s advice.

Bernstein said she faced discipline not because she took action in response to what she believed to be harassment, but the way she went about it.

Orphans’ courts handle disputes regarding estates and trusts. The judges are elected and don’t have to be lawyers. Not all Maryland jurisdictions have orphans’ courts. The controversy has led some — including The Daily Record’s Editorial Advisory Board, which is separate from the newsroom — to argue the state should get rid of orphans’ courts.

Gipson only entered one exhibit into evidence — an email from Bernstein that she interpreted as recommending that she reach out to law enforcement if her safety was at risk.

Gipson took responsibility for her actions, but said there’s nothing she would have done differently throughout the whole ordeal. In her answer, she reiterated that she believed she was acting on the commission’s advice in reaching out to law enforcement. She said she was being abused and harassed, and that her goal was to protect herself and court staff.

“It was not my intention to create so much havoc,” she said.

Marisa Trasatti, a member of the commission who also serves as president of the Maryland State Bar Association, asked her if she took responsibility and what she would have done differently.

“I take full responsibility for getting sucked into the quagmire of what I was advised of,” Gipson said.

When Trasatti asked her to clarify, Gipson said, “I think that I would not have done what I was advised to do.”

That “havoc” could have been prevented she said, if she had “allowed myself to be abused.”

“I’m not sure what else I could have done, to be honest with you.”

In her closing statement, she said she had been revictimized by the commission, and that the commission was “asking too much.”