close
close
hsuses

State Supreme Court suspends judge over alleged sexual escapades in courthouse

Theo

Assistant District Judge Brian Lovell has been suspended for alleged sexual misconduct and corruption during court hours, according to a petition reportedly filed June 27 in the court of Oklahoma Chief Justice John Kane IV.

The 58-year-old Garfield County judge was temporarily suspended effective immediately, according to the petition. His alleged actions included “exchanging sexually explicit messages and images with court personnel during courthouse hours and engaging in sexual intercourse with court personnel during courthouse hours.”

Lovell’s alleged sexual misconduct began in 2011 when he failed to disclose his relationship with bailiff Natalie Marshall to authorities upon his hiring, the document says. Those alleged acts were discovered when the bailiff admitted to them and resigned. Five district judges voted to keep Lovell in office despite that misconduct.

In 2023, Lovell and court clerk Cynthia Tubbs, who was hired in 2011 to replace Marshall, engaged in sexual activity “during courtroom hours” and continued to exchange sexually explicit images and text messages, the petition says. Those alleged messages include one instance in which Lovell sent Tubbs a message before he was scheduled to take a defendant’s confession in court.

Lovell denied that the two had engaged in sexual acts, writing in his response that they had only exchanged “flirty text messages,” according to the petition. Tubbs testified that they had committed the alleged acts. In the text messages allegedly exchanged between the two, “the two refer to their physical encounters.”

Lovell is also accused of “gross bias” and corruption because he worked with a lawyer without permission in several cases, the petition says. He is also said to have tried to persuade a lawyer to give false testimony.
(RELATED: District judge releases Epstein documents sealed for 16 years)

Lovell has repeatedly avoided disciplinary action by failing to appear before the Council on Judicial Complaints and refusing to participate in proceedings, the petition states.

Judge Lovell has previously been charged in connection with drive-by shootings in Oklahoma and Texas, FOX News reported.

Lovell was charged in Texas in September for allegedly shooting at six cars outside the Juan in a Million Mexican restaurant in Austin, the outlet reported.

In February 2023, Lovell allegedly shot at his brother-in-law’s apartment in Oklahoma, the newspaper said.

According to ABC News, Lovell’s attorney Stephen Jones claimed the motion was an attempt to “humiliate and embarrass Judge Lovell and his family.”

Jones also reportedly denied that his client was responsible for “gross neglect of duty, corruption in office, commission of crimes in office involving moral turpitude, gross partiality in office, oppression in office, or any other reason.”

Lovell has until July 8 to appeal his suspension, and his dismissal hearing is scheduled for July 30, according to FOX News.

Related Posts