Alabama Judge Nakita Blocton was removed from the bench after receiving a complaint of harassment. According to the New York Post, the complaint filed in May accused Blocton of making several "inappropriate comments" to two other judges and two employees.
Alabama judge who called colleagues 'Uncle Tom' removed from bench https://t.co/GbF4JoOEln
pic.twitter.com/rJD2bZnpXc— New York Post (@nypost) December 18, 2021
Blocton is accused of calling a judge "Uncle Tom." She's also accused of calling another judge a "fat b***h," and an employee a "heifer." The complaint alleges that she referred to another employee with a rude remark, though the statement was concealed in the documents. On top of the other serious accusations, Blocton is accused of allegedly creating fake accounts to find litigants on social media and telling witnesses to delete evidence. She allegedly attempted to influence multiple litigants' testimony.
The complaint adds that Blocton has a history of abusive behavior in the workplace, adding that she regularly pushed her employees to share their personal cellphones and work log-ins to delete evidence.
"This behavior included Judge Blocton’s use of Facebook aliases to communicate directly with litigants and to provide information to litigants in cases, asking potential witnesses to delete evidence relevant to the Commission’s investigation, and attempting to influence the testimony of witnesses (or potential witnesses) in this matter," the panel's decision reads.
In the May complaint, Blocton was alleged to have created aliases under the names "Linda Schneider," "Camellia Williams" and "Jennifer Foster" starting in Aug. 2020 to influence parties in a divorce case she was tasked with.
"These communications are voluminous, consist of hundreds of pages of conversations, and contain confidential information that would only be known by Judge Blocton or someone acting in her direction," the complaint states.
The documents also allege Blocton, or someone on her behalf, sent messages to a litigant who'd filed a complaint against her.
"Because you have prophesied when I did not send you, and because you caused my people to believe in a lie, you and your descendants will be punished," she allegedly wrote.
The judge is alleged to have been on a prescription drug that caused her to act with erratic behavior. She's also accused of encouraging her employees to take diet pills while working late nights to give them more energy.
"These pills created behavioral changes in Judge Blocton while she was performing her judicial duties, including but not limited to, becoming hyper-talkative and hyper-somnolent… exhibiting paranoid behavior… and expressing a belief that the commission or someone at its direction is 'going to kill her,'" the complaint read. "Judge Blocton has also consistently stayed at the courthouse overnight, presumably trying to work, and has told others that she does not sleep for days at a time."