Embattled Md. Judge To Retire For Health

Prince George's Judge Richard A. Palumbo has denied wrongdoing and has attributed the allegations against him to misunderstandings.

Palumbo's attorney, William C. Brennan, said his client had no comment about his retirement.

According to Brennan, the judge has been hospitalized twice this year for treatment of a heart problem, and his medication has been significantly increased. Palumbo's doctor recommended that he retire to reduce stress, Brennan said.

A close friend of Palumbo's, retired Prince George's Circuit Court judge Vincent J. Femia, said that Palumbo was eager to defend himself against the misconduct charges but decided that his health took precedence.

"He's really down because his health let him down when he needed it the most," Femia said. "He feels like he really didn't have a choice."

Femia and Palumbo's other friends describe him as a bighearted, humorous man whose words and actions have been misunderstood.

Carole Alexander, executive director of House of Ruth in Maryland, which provides shelter and other services for battered women, agreed with Cade that Palumbo should have had to face the charges against him.

"I think it sends a terrible message to domestic violence victims, victims in general and the public at large," Alexander said. "For him to be able to resign and just wash his hands of this matter is just absurd."

When told that Palumbo was retiring, Duchy Trachtenberg, president of the Maryland chapter of the National Organization for Women, said, "Hallelujah!"

"I think it was the right decision for the community, given what went on the last year with Ms. Cade," Trachtenberg said. "There was certainly a pattern of bad judgment by Judge Palumbo."

The Oct. 10 attack on Cade put a spotlight on Palumbo, a former legislator who was appointed to the bench in 2001 by Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D). Other allegations of misconduct quickly surfaced.

A little more than two weeks after Cade was burned, Maryland's chief judge of the District Court temporarily removed Palumbo from the bench and reassigned him to administrative duties.

The chief judge took the action the same day The Washington Post reported that a Maryland State Police trooper was "counseled" after he deviated from official procedure by writing "Void" across a speeding ticket he had issued to Palumbo on Feb. 17, 2005. In a memo to his barracks commander, the trooper wrote that he was voiding the ticket he had given to "Judge Palumbo from Prince George's Court."