Former Bangor judge is fighting to keep his law license after sexual harassment complaints

The Maine Bar Association is weighing whether a former Bangor judge should be allowed to keep his license to practice law after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances to two women at a conference in Nashville.

During Zoom hearings this week, a three-member panel for the Maine Board of Bar Overseers heard testimony from former District Judge Charles Budd, women who say he harassed them, and various probation officers, treatment providers and attorneys at Adult Drug Treatment. program that Budd oversaw in Bangor. The panel said it would have to schedule a third day of testimony, but a date had not been set for Friday.

The board initiated the lawsuit last year to determine whether Budd violated the attorneys’ code of conduct after two women. filed a civil suit.

The panel heard this week from many people who attended the same Nashville conference in July 2022 for drug treatment courts. Their testimony supported some of the claims made by Samantha Pike, a treatment counselor, who said Budd sexually harassed her at the conference.

Witnesses also said Budd could be inappropriate in court, even treating defendants who appeared before him differently based on gender and physical appearance.

“With certain female drug court participants, he treated some differently based, in my opinion, on how they looked and how they presented themselves in court,” said Assistant District Attorney Maggie Gray , a prosecutor who worked with Penobscot County. drug court.

As Gray and others spoke, Budd would often roll his eyes, shake his head, and even throw his hands in the air. Although his microphone was muted, he could often be seen making comments to his attorney, Melissa Hewey, who sat next to him.

Hewey declined to talk about the hearing Friday afternoon. Budd denied doing anything improper at the Nashville conference and during his time as a judge.

He joined the bank in 2015 after being nominated by former Gov. Paul LePage. He previously worked as a lawyer at Rudman Winchell.

Budd has been placed on administrative leave in the fall of 2022, according to Barbara Cardone, spokeswoman for the state judicial branch. When his term expired in early 2023, Cardone said he chose not to run again.

Cardone declined to address the allegations made during Budd’s bar hearing because they related to his time as a judge. Court officials previously declined to discuss the claims made against Budd in a Pike trial filed in November 2022 in US District Court. The process was dismissed in June 2023but the First Circuit Court of Appeals is still considering whether to overturn that decision.

Pike’s attorney, Laura White, said Friday they were hopeful of an appeal and confirmed the bar had decided to investigate Budd’s actions. Still, she said, some of the hearing was uncomfortable and the panel’s questions were sometimes intrusive.

“This is why more women don’t come forward,” White said. “It leaves women feeling like they’re not believed.”

ACCUSATIONS

Much of this week’s hearing focused on Budd’s interactions with Pike, who was the primary substance use treatment provider for Penobscot County’s adult drug court.

Before the July 2022 conference, Pike said he felt their relationship was professional. She and others said Budd regularly brought an assortment of donuts to court, including a separate bag of Boston Cream donuts for Pike.

Now she wonders if that was favoritism, considering her colleagues’ complaints that Budd favored her recommendations over those of Gray, the prosecutor and probation officers.

But once she got to Nashville, Pike said it was clear Budd was drinking more than she thought was appropriate and was following her.

“I think that sets you up for a lot of different issues, having a judge in his role, drinking with his team,” Pike testified Friday. “I still feel that way, I think it’s inappropriate.”

One night, she said, Budd followed her to her hotel room, saying his was across the hall — which was not true. When she wouldn’t invite him in, she said he asked her out for a drink at the downstairs bar. She said she agreed after trying to say no twice because she was afraid he might try to get into her room.

At the bar, she said she complained about his marriage and commented on the physical appearance of at least two drug court participants.

After the second night, Pike said he left the bar pretending to go to the bathroom and then called for a ride back to the hotel. Budd later texted her that he felt he had been “given up”.

“No Boston creams for you,” he wrote in a text that a Maine Board of Bar Overseers attorney, Julia Sheridan, showed the panel Thursday.

OTHER WITNESSES

In his testimony Friday, Budd said their conversations were more innocent than Pike described and that she misinterpreted many of his remarks.

When Pike said Budd referred to her in front of her colleagues as his “hot friend,” Budd later said he was actually referring to another judge.

“It’s a bad thing to have said,” Budd added, “because he’s bald.”

Budd denied that he “looked for” Pike or that he had had too much to drink.

Other witnesses said otherwise.

Ryan Auffant, then a case manager at the drug court, said the night Pike left the bar early, he was tasked with making sure Budd got back to the hotel safely.

Auffant testified that Budd “appeared under the influence.” He said that while waiting for an Uber, Budd left and tried to talk to other women. In the car, Auffant said Budd complained about being “given up.”

“At one point he did an impression of the Joker from Batman,” Auffant said.

Eric Legassie, who was Auffant’s supervisor, was also at the conference and testified Friday that he felt uncomfortable that Budd had placed Auffant in this position and tried to report it to Maine Pretrial Services, which declined to act in that time because Pike wasn’t theirs. employee (worked for a treatment provider who had a contract with the court.)

Legassie said it was also awkward for Pike.

“It’s not okay to be treated like this,” he said.

Irving said the Nashville conference was his first time meeting Budd, but within minutes of their conversation, he asked her if she wanted to sleep in his room.

Irving testified that he took this as an inappropriate sexual advance. She said she felt humiliated but hesitated to come forward out of fear that she might one day have to appear in Budd’s court. Irving was also a plaintiff in Pike’s civil case against Budd, but decided not to appeal.

“I think at the moment there was just that kind of shock,” Irving testified. “But there’s a difference when that’s a person with power in the system that you’re going to be able to see again.”

Richard Gordon, who oversaw treatment courts nationwide, testified Friday that although Budd appeared drunk, he believed Budd’s comment to Irving was not sexual.

“It was, ‘Well, I’m in the hotel, there’s an extra bed if you want to stay here,'” Gordon testified. “Something along these lines.”

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