Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - 7:33am
Judge heard controversial case same day he was fired
WDEL's Amy Cherry has learned a disgraced Sussex County Judge was hearing cases in Kent County during his ongoing ethics investigation.
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The order that both fired and praised Sussex County Family Court Judge John Henricksen for his 11 years of service was issued May 3. He was removed from the bench May 4th.
But not before hearing a controversial child support modification hearing on May 3rd in Kent county -- the same day that order was issued.
Failed political candidate Karen Hartley-Nagle, who was fighting to have her child support reduced before Judge Henricksen, had no idea there had been an ethics investigation into the judge. But when she found out, she was livid.
"I am absolutely outraged, and I am outraged that he was allowed to hear any case, but especially mine because of the correlation between my case in Superior Court that's right now before Superior Court, and his personal case that he was just fired for," says Hartley-Nagle.
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Except she didn't find out about Henricksen's inappropriate relations with a female attorney until the next day. Hartley-Nagle says she may not have known, but he should have.
"Even though he knows better because he has an order outlining what he was doing wrong. But there was a clear conflict in him even hearing my case and he was aware. He should have recused. I mean as soon as he read my complaint, and it was similar to why he was being fired, in my opinion, he should've recused from the case," Hartley-Nagle says.
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The conflict? A failed political candidate herself, Hartley-Nagle was fired from the Delaware Department of Insurance last year for missing a week of work to prepare for custody hearings. She claims she was terminated for allegedly rejecting romantic advances from her boss. A lawsuit is pending in that case. She says the parallels though are just too similar between her cases and what Judge Henricksen was going through, personally.
She says at her May 3rd hearing, Henricksen was considering raising her child support even though she didn't have a job and her husband's a multi-millionaire. Knowing what she knows now, Hartley-Nagle can't help but wonder whether Henricksen was seeking vengeance on the bench.
"And I'm thinking oh my gosh, no wonder my child support may be increased or kept the same. In my opinion, he can't do anything to that young lady, but he can certainly take it out on a woman who has a similar circumstance with rebuffing romantic advances from her boss," says Hartley-Nagle.
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Hartley-Nagle says Henricksen instructed her to get what she calls 'irrelevant' medical documentation for a case he knew he wouldn't even rule on.
"It just appears to me to be abuse of power. In my opinion, they just had me running around for nothing. but I shouldn't have to doubt that. I shouldn't have to go before a judge and doubt his motive because he's been disciplined for a similar situation," Hartley-Nagle says.
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Judge Henricksen refused requests for comment. Hartley-Nagle says it really casts a shadow of doubt on Delaware's legal system.
"I just feel that I am victimized by the court, by the judge. It's just a horrible feeling to have no confidence in the judicial system," says Hartley-Nagle.
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Tomorrow on Delaware's Morning News, WDEL's Amy Cherry takes a look at the secrecy within Delaware's Family Court and how more transparency could help.
Copyright © May 24, 2013, WDEL/Delmarva Broadcasting Company. All Rights Reserved.
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