Kanawha County Magistrate Ward Harshbarger is resigning, effective at the end of today’s work day, and agreeing to never seek political office again following an agreement with the Judicial Investigation Commission.
Even with that, the Judicial Investigation Commission contends the magistrate’s letter to the chief circuit judge included a disingenuous reason for his resignation. The letter made reference to health issues, not to his behavior on the bench.
Harshbarger, who started as a magistrate in 1981, was also publicly admonished. Over his time on the bench, the public admonishment notes, Harshbarger was disciplined four separate times.
In 1984, the state Supreme Court censured Harshbarger for neglect of duty. A decade later, in 1994, the Supreme Court publicly admonished him for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct. In 2014, he was publicly censured and fined for violating multiple aspects of the Code of Judicial Conduct. And his peers on the Judicial Investigation Commission again admonished him in 2016.
Despite all that, Harshbarger ran for re-election in 2016 but lost. He won in 2020 after running yet again.
“To his detriment, this is now the fifth time he has been disciplined and he lacked candor in his resignation letter to the chief circuit judge,” wrote Judge Alan Moats, chairman of the Judicial Investigation Commission.
The latest investigation was prompted by allegations from Montgomery Police Chief Paris Workman, a former magistrate himself.
This past Sept. 10, one of the Montgomery police officers transported a defendant to arraignment at magistrate court at 11:53 p.m. Harshbarger complained that the arrival was too close to the court’s midnight closing time.
The officer alleged that Harshbarger “verbally reprimanded me in an unprofessional way in front of other officers and court staff.” The officer also complained that the magistrate threw a Styrofoam cup at him.
Then, on Oct. 6, an officer brought a defendant to court on an out-of-county warrant. The magistrate complained that was a waste of the court’s time, the officer alleged.
And then on Oct. 15, two officers brought a defendant to an arraignment room full of people. The officers contended the magistrate referred to them as “idiots” and said the officers in Montgomery don’t know how to do their jobs.
The Judicial Investigation Commission wrote that the magistrate’s treatment of officers from the Montgomery Police Department was “discourteous, disrespectful and indecorous.
“As a magistrate with almost 37 years’ experience, Respondent knew better than to hurl insults and a cup at officers.”
The commission’s order continued, “By denigrating the officers of the Montgomery Police Department, by complaining about his primary responsibilities associated with the position and by casting doubt on the true reason for his resignation, Respondent has consigned himself to his fate and can no longer call himself a judge.”