8/18/2019 Garland Recused Himself in Complaint Against Federal Judge - WTOP

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Garland recused himself incomplaint against federal judge

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8/18/2019 Garland Recused Himself in Complaint Against Federal Judge - WTOP

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FILE - This May 1, 2008, file photo shows U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts before the start of a ceremony at the federal

courthouse in Washington. A Utah woman alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, March 16, 2016, that Roberts, a longtime federal

 judge, sexually assaulted...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee,

Merrick Garland, recused himself from a judicial complaint against a judge

accused of sexually assaulting a Utah woman decades ago.

Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, removed himse

from any involvement in a judicial complaint led against Richard Roberts. Until last week, Roberts w

chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington.

Garland and Roberts were longtime colleagues. Both worked at the Justice Department and as feder

prosecutors before being named as judges.

Roberts, 62, was accused of raping a Utah woman in 1981, when he was a prosecutor and she was a

teenage witness.

8/18/2019 Garland Recused Himself in Complaint Against Federal Judge - WTOP

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The appeals court said in a written statement that Garland recused himself March 11, ve days befo

he was selected for the Supreme Court. Roberts retired March 16, the same day Garland was

nominated.

The complaint against Roberts was dismissed March 18 in an order signed by Judge Karen LeCraft

Henderson, the acting chief judge for the D.C. Circuit. The dismissal order does not name Roberts, bu

said the case was closed because the judge retired March 16, as Roberts had done.

The statement by the appeals court said Garland “became aware of the conduct at issue when the

complaint was received on March 11.” Garland recused himself that day, citing his “longstanding

professional relationship with Judge Roberts,” the statement said.

Terry Mitchell of Salt Lake City has accused Roberts of assaulting her when he a prosecutor assigned

a high-prole serial murder case and she was a 16-year-old witness to a double murder.

Roberts has acknowledged that he and Mitchell had an inmate relationship that he called a mistake,

but through his lawyer has denied ever sexually assaulting her.

Roberts retired the day Mitchell sued him in Salt Lake City last week.

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