The Florida Supreme Court has removed 7th Circuit Judge Scott DuPont from the bench effective Monday following the recommendations of an ethics panel that said DuPont showed a “reckless disregard for the truth."
The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission on Feb. 15 had recommended DuPont be removed after finding him guilty of several violations of the code of judicial conduct. A week later Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano ordered DuPont off the bench and told him to turn in his office keys and parking access cards to the Kim C. Hammond Justice Center in Bunnell and the Putnam County Courthouse in Palatka. DuPont had presided over civil cases.
DuPont was paid $160,688 a year as a circuit judge.
The JQC in a document on April 11 stated that it had proved that "Judge DuPont abused his position and showed himself to be unfit by: ordering money taken from litigants unlawfully; intentionally violating judicial campaign rules in a way that caused permanent harm to private citizens; prioritizing campaigning for re-election over lawful performance of his duties; and announcing to the public that he would ignore his judicial oath. Furthermore, Judge DuPont’s testimony to the JQC was, at times, "not worthy of belief.”
The JQC has said that DuPont showed “a reckless disregard for the truth” when he published false and misleading information about his campaign opponent, Malcolm Anthony and Anthony’s family, during the 2016 campaign.
DuPont admitted to “carelessness” during the 2016 judicial campaign but says he acted in “good faith” and honestly believed that the information supplied by a researcher hired by his campaign manager was accurate, according to the response submitted earlier this year by DuPont's attorney Rutledge Liles.