Oregon Supreme Court to review censure of Deschutes County judge who intervened in two cases, including homicide
(Update: Adding video, comments from Mayor Kebler)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ)-- Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Bethany Flint agreed to censure this week by the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability after intervening in two local cases involving friends, one a still-unsolved homicide case.
Flint was appointed to the court by Governor Kate Brown in 2015.
"It's a way of letting the public know what happened and also helping to, hopefully, have the person correct that behavior in the future," Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said Wednesday. She is an attorney who volunteers as the chair of the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability, which handles complaints about judges.
Kebler and the commission determined Judge Flint broke six judicial codes, including using her position to gain favor for herself or others.
"When we receive a complaint, we meet and deliberate on it, and decide whether to move forward with querying the judge, dismissing the complaint, investigating and gathering information," Kebler said. "And then, under Oregon law, there is a result of that, that can be censure."
Kebler says this is the first censure case she's been involved with in her six years on the commission.
In 2020, Flint was found to have been helping a friend through the process of obtaining a Family Abuse Prevention Act restraining order. Following the friend complaining to Flint that she was "treated poorly," the judge overseeing the restraining order later asked for advice regarding restraining order petitioners that "lack credibility."
After Flint learned the judge was talking about her friend, she complained about the judge's tone and wrote an opinion letter about their handling of a different restraining order case.
The second case occurred in 2022, when Flint was found to be intervening in a homicide case involving a friend. She “intervened in the conversation with law enforcement more than once,” according to the statement of facts in the report.
She also helped the wife of the victim, Leonard Peverieri, with finding an attorney and advised her and her children not to speak with police without a lawyer present.
The case was reassigned to a Lane County judge and remains unsolved, with no charges filed. Judge Flint did report herself to the commission following the second case.
"We're responsible for upholding the Judicial Code of conduct, so that's what we do," Kebler said.
We reached out to Judge Flint by phone for comment, but did not hear back. She's still on the bench, hearing other cases, pending a Supreme Court review of the matter.
