Issues Mount For Md. Judge

The judge has also faced questions recently over two traffic incidents.

Maryland state troopers said in a report in August that Palumbo caused a two-vehicle accident in Charles, but they did not issue a citation to him. Six months earlier, a trooper was "counseled" for deviating from official procedure by voiding a speeding ticket he issued to Palumbo in Mitchellville. The state's top administrative district court judge temporarily removed Palumbo from the bench after a report of the voided ticket.

Meanwhile, information about the domestic violence case similar to that of Cade's has raised concern among advocates for domestic violence victims about Palumbo's fitness for the bench.

In the Cade case, Palumbo was denounced for his decision to dismiss the protective order, as well as for the way in which he spoke to Cade when she was before him.

When Cade told him she wanted "an immediate and absolute divorce," he responded: "I'd like to be 6-foot-5, but that's not what we do here. You have to go to divorce court for that," according to a recording of the proceeding.

On Oct. 10, Roger B. Hargrave allegedly went to the T-Mobile store in Clinton where Cade worked, doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. Cade, 31, is hospitalized with third-degree burns; Hargrave, 33, of Temple Hills, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault.

Palumbo's lawyer has said that the judge did not intend to dismiss Cade's protective order and that it was the result of a clerical error.

Carole Alexander, executive director of the House of Ruth, said she remembered a recent case in which a woman came before Palumbo with a crushed voice box after her husband had allegedly attacked her.

"Palumbo is there saying 'Speak up.' He is just going after her. He's very, very derisive in a jocular way. It's like, 'I'm going to impress you with how powerful I am.' It's totally inappropriate," said Alexander, who was not present but said she had heard a recording of the hearing.

In another case, Patricia Smith of Lanham went before Palumbo in December, telling the judge she was terrified of her husband and feared that he would again grab her, shove her and try to break into a room where she was hiding. Palumbo listened to her case, then wrote on a court document "No valid threat."

With that, Palumbo denied Smith's request for a final protective order. Five months later, after Smith had let her husband back into their home, he beat her up, leaving bruises across her neck, according to court documents and interviews.

Charles Maxwell Smith, 41, faces trial on the assault charges in December. A tree cutter and former professional boxer, he has a history of arrests and served three years in prison for a cocaine charge in the 1990s.