Angry women legislators yesterday called for the head of Judge Robert E. Cahill Sr. for the lenient prison sentence he gave a Parkton trucker who killed his wife after finding her in bed with another man.
More than 30 of the 54 female delegates and senators elected to the Maryland General Assembly last month gathered on the State House steps to demonstrate their unified support for Judge Cahill's removal from the bench.
The women handed out copies of a joint resolution they said they intend to introduce when the General Assembly convenes next month. If passed, it would formally censure the 62-year-old Baltimore County circuit judge for his actions and comments during the sentencing of Kenneth Lee Peacock. The women said Judge Cahill demonstrated unforgivable bias against women.
Del. Joan Cadden, an Anne Arundel County Democrat and first vice president of the Women's Legislative Caucus, said the caucus also has formed a committee "to investigate the possibility of impeachment and other methods of removing Judge Cahill from the bench."
Judge Cahill did not return a telephone call to his chambers requesting comment.
In October, he came under intense criticism -- and gained unwanted national notoriety -- by sentencing Peacock, 36, to 18 months in a county jail work-release program for the shooting death of his 31-year-old wife, Sandra Kaye Sloan Peacock.
The shooting occurred Feb. 9, about four hours after Peacock arrived home unexpectedly during a winter storm and discovered his wife in bed with another man. Ms. Peacock's lover fled the house unharmed.
In passing sentence, Judge Cahill said, "I seriously wonder how many married men -- married five, four years -- would have the strength to walk away without inflicting some corporal punishment."
"I am forced to impose a sentence . . . only because I think I must do it to make the system honest," he added.
Such comments, said women legislators, not only are inappropriate, but also have had a "chilling effect" on women who have been raped or been the victims of domestic abuse because they fear how they will be treated in court.
"The women in our county feel a tremendous injustice was done," said Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Baltimore County Democrat.
The proposed resolution calls on the General Assembly to "blame, condemn and denounce" Judge Cahill.
A panel of lawyers and judges that deals with sex bias in Maryland's court system has already agreed to investigate a complaint against Judge Cahill and could refer the case for possible disciplinary action by the state's Judicial Disabilities Commission.
That seven-member commission, after an investigation and hearing, can recommend to the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, that a judge be retired, removed, censured or publicly reprimanded.
But since the commission's formation in 1966, only three judges have been removed from office based on the panel's recommendations. Two were removed in 1973 for fixing parking and traffic tickets, and the third was removed in 1984 for forging another judge's signature to alter the driving record of a political ally.
The women legislators said they have little confidence that the commission will appropriately discipline Judge Cahill and said they may seek other ways to remove him from the bench.
Maryland's Constitution says the governor must remove a judge from office if the judge is convicted of a crime, of incompetence, of willful neglect of duty or of misbehavior in office.
The governor also must remove a judge impeached by the General Assembly, or on a vote of two-thirds of both the House of Delegates and Senate, as long as the accused has been notified of the charges and has had an opportunity to present a defense.
Judges, attorneys and others familiar with the history of Maryland's judiciary said yesterday they did not know of any Maryland judge impeached by the legislature, a procedure requiring a finding that the judge committed "a high crime and misdemeanor."
The other legislative option for removing a judge, requiring the two-thirds vote of each house, apparently can be invoked for less serious offenses, said Assistant Attorney General Richard Israel.
"It is quite clear there has to be a reason. They have to put it in a statement of charges and give him an opportunity to respond," Mr. Israel said. "But the reason need not be one that constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors. It could be based on his lack of suitability or lack of judicial temperament."
The last time the General Assembly removed a judge by that process appears to have been in 1860, when the legislature recommended and the governor agreed to oust Judge Henry Stump from the Criminal Court of Baltimore City.
There were five complaints against Judge Stump, according to records unearthed by Senate historian Peter J. Kumpa, including allegations that he was "gross and vulgar" and "undignified and disrespectful to members of bar."
But what probably did him in was the allegation he was "intoxicated and asleep on the bench . . . affecting the liberty and life of the citizens."