West Virginia Judiciary admonishes Wood County magistrate
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PARKERSBURG -- A Wood County magistrate was publicly admonished by the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission for an outburst with a magistrate assistant in April.
In a decision posted to the West Virginia Judiciary website, Wood County Magistrate Jody Purkey was ordered to be publicly admonished for his behavior.
Purkey was first elected a Wood County Magistrate in 2016 and has served since Jan. 1, 2017.
On May 11, Joe Armstrong, administrator director of the state Supreme Court, filed a complaint against Purkey saying the magistrate "engaged in intemperate behavior toward a magistrate assistant during work hours," according to the order issued by the commission.
The assistant involved is a long time employee of another magistrate and was not named in the order. In 2016, the assistant ran for the magistrate position Purkey won.
"The two do not have a good working relationship," the order said, adding prior incidents had to be resolved by other officials.
On Friday, April 7, Purkey was working in magistrate court handling arraignments, citations and all other case intake. Purkey's own assistant and the one he did not get along with were on duty that day. Both assistants received the completed paperwork from Purkey to upload onto a computer for the Unified Judicial Application system.
At one point, the assistant in question took paperwork from a case before the magistrate and returned it to Purkey's office without uploading it. Purkey asked what was wrong with it and couldn't get an answer.
He was apparently told by the assistant "Figure it out yourself," according to the order.
"In her sworn statement , (the assistant in question) admitted that it was possible she responded in that manner," the order said. "She also agreed that the response was unprofessional."
According to the order, Purkey became angry, swore at the assistant and threw the paperwork in the air. The assistant picked up the paperwork and tried to hand it back to him, but he refused to take it. The paperwork fell on the ground and he kicked it. He then stormed back to the courtroom leaving the paperwork on the floor.
About an hour later Purkey apologized to the assistant in question for his behavior.
"The following Monday he left a card on the assistant's desk containing a written apology," the order said.
Purkey, in his statements to the commission, admitted his behavior and communication were inappropriate for a judicial officer and violated the Code of Judicial Conduct and he promised he would refrain from engaging in that behavior in the future.
The commission ruled the written admonishment was an appropriate resolution.
The commission said both Purkey and the assistant were at fault, but Purkey should have led by example and tried to defuse the situation rather than agitating it.
"(Purkey) hurled expletives at (the assistant), threw paperwork and kicked it like an errant child," the order said. "By doing so, he clearly called into question the integrity of the judicial system as a whole and is therefore admonished for his behavior."
Purkey did not comment on the matter on Thursday and referred questions to his attorney, Bill Merriman.
Merriman said it was an unfortunate incident and Purkey acknowledges it, apologizing immediately after it happened.
Purkey has accepted his public admonishment.
"Everyone has a bad day and unfortunately in Magistrate Purkey's career for many years he had a bad day that day," Merriman said. "It was a busy day. The communications between the assistant and Magistrate Purkey were not the best and he had a bad moment. He has accepted it and has moved on. He plans to serve the citizens of Wood County for the remainder of this term and the next term."
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com