Voter ouster of Missouri judge a rarity

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis County judge's ouster by voters this week marks just the third time a jurist has been removed since the state created its judicial-selection system nearly eight decades ago.

Associate Circuit Judge Dale Hood lost his retention bid Tuesday after failing to get the required majority of votes, with nearly 60 percent of voters deciding against keeping Hood on the bench, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

A 21-member statewide judicial-review committee of lawyers, residents and judges, which considers rulings and surveys from attorneys and jurors, recommended in 2008 and 2012 that Hood not be retained, but he ultimately prevailed.

The panel ruled in September by a 20-1 vote Hood didn't meet basic standards among criteria that include punctuality, courtroom demeanor, preparation and fairness.

Hood got a 5 percent score, making him the only Missouri judge of 48 on Tuesday's ballot to receive a failing grade.

Only two Missouri judges -- both from the Kansas City area -- have been removed by voters since 1940, when the state created its judicial-selection system.

"Citizens can look at these things that have been said about the judges in the evaluations and make up their own minds," the review committee's chairman, Dale Doerhoff, said before Tuesday's election.

Hood, who was an assistant county prosecutor before being appointed to the bench in 2005, did not return Associated Press messages left at his office Thursday.