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Amanda Butterfield and Marc Giauque reportingOn this year's ballot you will be voting on whether or not to retain judges and there's a group out there that does not want you to retain one judge in particular.
Judges are not allowed to compaign under Utah law, but people can campaign against them. It doesn't happen very often, but one group is campaigning againist Third District Judge Leslie Lewis.
Judge Lewis, (Courtesy You Tube): "Are we boring you?"
Those who want her voted out say she bullies people...
Judge Lewis: "Put him into custody. I'm not going to argue with you."
...She handcuffs spectators in her courtroom and doesn't allow them answer questions she asks.
Judge Lewis: "I don't want to hear a word from you, you and I are not in the same positions, we are not having a dialogue."
Those are the reasons a group on the web, called Fire Judge Lewis.com wants you to vote 'NO' on retaining her this November. These examples come from video you can find on You-Tube.com. The group has even sent out flyers to persuade voters.
Because of Utah Law, Judge Lewis can't counter with a campain of her own. Simply put, there's no campainging to keep 'politics' out of the judiciary system.
Another time a group campaigned againist a judge was back 1996, to unseat Judge Michael Young. Tooele County residents said he was too light on sex offenders. That campaign failed, but in 2002 it was successful and Young lost his seat.
There's only one other recorded time that's happened.
We contacted Judge Lewis about this campaign againist her, she repsonded by saying, "It is my obligation as a Judge handling a criminal calendar to maintain control over my courtroom. I'm constrained by the Code of Judicial Ethics from engaging in further debate or making further comment regarding this matter."
Judge Lewis also points out that in the voter Information Pamphlet, she recieved favorable ratings by at least 70 percent of the respondents. This was mailed to you, or you can pick one up at a library, or the county clerk's office.
As for the group who spearheaded the campaign againist Judge Lewis, they've remained anonymous.
