Disciplined judge responds after investigation in Colorado: “We are not swingers”

A Colorado judge who accepted a public reprimand and resigned after being accused of sexual conduct in the workplace is now hitting back at the state’s investigation into his conduct, calling it “disproportionate punishment for the crime.” He claims the state administration sought to expose, ridicule and shame him for his alternative lifestyle.

“The investigation was overzealous and a waste of taxpayer money,” said former judge John Scipione in his first media interview. “It could have been resolved at the outset. This case is a waste of taxpayer money and a vindictive, evil witch hunt aimed at destroying a dedicated public servant and his family.”

Scipione served as a justice of the peace in Arapahoe County from 2012 to 2017 and as a judge from 2018. However, after 30 years of legal career, he agreed to resign from office in a public reprimand after being accused of inappropriate conduct toward subordinates.

In the state’s disciplinary documents, administrators noted that Scipione had discussed his “sexual preferences and habits” with a subordinate in the workplace. In an interview with CBS News Colorado, he admitted he had crossed a line.

“I made a bad decision, I used bad judgment, I said things in hindsight that I shouldn’t have said and that I wish I hadn’t, and I will face the consequences for that,” Scipione said.

He reported that he did not initiate the conversation with a subordinate but responded to a question that led to a discussion about his 25-year marriage, which he said was “polyamorous,” meaning that he and his wife had consensual relationships with other people.

“We have and have had other relationships with people. Sometimes there is an intimate sexual component and sometimes not,” Scipione said. “We are simply open to experiences outside our traditional boundaries.”

He has described his marriage as “consensually non-monogamous.” The father of five said it was “completely inappropriate” to discuss this lifestyle with a subordinate. “In hindsight, I should have just left it alone.”

A multi-year government investigation concluded that “Scipione was guilty of a pattern of misconduct”: He repeatedly used his position to “seek close relationships with lower-ranking or subordinate employees of the Justice Department and with court personnel,” while failing to disclose “a close relationship with a lower-ranking employee” that he had had as a justice of the peace about ten years earlier.

“It was completely inappropriate,” Scipione admitted. “It was consensual, but it was still wrong. I regret it. I messed up.”

The judicial investigation concluded that Scipione “exhibited a pattern of misconduct” and “repeatedly abused his power for his own benefit.” The state said it settled two sexual harassment lawsuits related to Scipione’s conduct for $130,000.

While he agreed to a public reprimand for his conduct and resigned in January 2023, just last month the Colorado Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling that Scipione must repay $51,189 in legal fees for previous disciplinary proceedings.

“I don’t have $51,000,” Scipione said. “It’s a penalty I’ll have to pay off over the course of my life.”

He called the sentence “an unconscionable punishment.” He went on to say he “absolutely” made mistakes, but the judicial investigation into his conduct was “disproportionate” to the crime. He said he believed state judicial authorities had prosecuted him more harshly than other judges who had been involved in more serious incidents because of the sexual nature of his conduct.

“People like to sexualize things they don’t understand,” Scipione noted. “Did I make mistakes? Absolutely. Do I take responsibility? Absolutely. Were the consequences life-changing and irreparable? Yes, and I just have to deal with that,” he said during an hour-long interview.

Jeffrey Walsh, special counsel for the Colorado Office of Judicial Discipline, declined to discuss Scipione’s case or the former judge’s comments.

“Neither the Commission nor its staff comment on individual cases,” Walsh said.