COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — Judge Clark Peterson appears to be in the hot seat again, this time due a local woman’s awareness campaign about his known and alleged misconduct in the hopes that voters in Kootenai County will remove him during the 2024 General Election.
Currently, Peterson is the fourth longest sitting magistrate judge in Idaho’s First Judicial District. He was a trial attorney with Walker Amendola Anderson & Doty, PLLC (now Amenola Doty & Brumley, PLLC) before being appointed to the bench in 2010. Christina “Tina” Stevens was a plaintiff in a civil divorce case filed in 2010 which was assigned to Peterson’s docket. According to Stevens, what proceeded was a seven-year ordeal that left her traumatized and determined to expose what she believes to be serious judicial misconduct.
Stevens is not alone in her belief that Peterson has engaged in misconduct. The Idaho Judicial Council has imposed two public reprimands on Peterson, one in November 2023 and one in July 2020. The November 2023 reprimand stemmed from a sexual harassment complaint filed by the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and the July 2020 reprimand was due to “inaccuracies in his reporting of vacation and leave time.”
“It is the Supreme Court and Judicial Council’s job to investigate and discipline magistrates,” stated Prosecuting Attorney Stanley Mortensen to Kootenai Journal on October 7. “It is my duty to protect my employees.”
Mortensen denies leaking the sexual harassment complaint his office filed with the Idaho Judicial Council against Judge Clark Peterson in May 2023 to the media, but maintains the complaint itself was necessary. An article by Emma Epperly published in The Spokesman-Review, details the complaint against Peterson, along with Mortensen’s concerns that Peterson would not remain objective and unbiased toward his office.
According to Epperly’s article, the complaint filed against Peterson led the Council to hire attorney Marla Henken to investigate. Epperly wrote, “Her investigation suggested that Peterson engaged in the same or similar conduct with another female co-worker and two male police officers…The investigation was expanded to other alleged misconduct by Peterson, including that he favored attractive female defendants…On Halloween, Peterson appeared live in court as Darth Vader, walking out from his chambers with “The Imperial March” playing on his cellphone.”
Additionally, Epperly reported that the complaint claimed Peterson “ate jelly beans on the record with felony defendants, asking them their favorite jelly bean flavor,” and that he “held hearings that excluded the prosecutor’s office.”
There are 14 justices within the First Judicial District Magistrate Division, and Peterson is one of nine located in Kootenai. Typically, magistrate judges handle civil claims under $10,000, domestic relations, probate matters, juvenile cases, guardianship, and misdemeanor criminal cases, as well as preliminary hearings for all criminal cases; however, after returning from a seven month administrative leave in 2023 following the complaint against him, Peterson has had all criminal cases removed from his docket. Mortensen filed multiple motions to disqualify Peterson from all cases involving his office, and while those motions were never adjudicated, the cases were reassigned and Peterson has only overseen civil cases ever since.
Mortensen said his focus has been on ensuring his employees would not be in circumstances that could place them in Peterson’s presence without witnesses and that all criminal cases would be heard by fair and impartial magistrates. He maintains that the discipline imposed on Peterson by the Council has not been satisfactory.
Stevens says the injustice in her civil case started when Peterson did not disqualify himself when her ex-husband retained Kacey Wall to represent his interests in April 2011. Wall had been an attorney at Walker Amendola Anderson & Doty with whom Peterson practiced law. In an affidavit to support a motion to disqualify Peterson from her case, Stevens stated, “The close professional relationship between the parties while practicing law at Walker Amendola Anderson and Doty in Coeur d’Alene predisposes both parties to bias which neither party can possibly set aside.”
The case was not reassigned until several years later, after an article published in The Spokesman-Review detailed some of Peterson’s alleged misconduct. However, Stevens said by that time she had already experienced irreparable harm.
I had already lost everything…My children, my house, my wealth, and my health.
Tina Stevens
The in-depth exposé by Scott Maben was the product of a thorough journalist investigation and published on December 4, 2013. Maben’s work showed Peterson’s personal life to be troublesome. “…the past two years have been tumultuous in his personal life — a divorce, bankruptcy filings and thousands of dollars in overdue income taxes…” The article goes on to describe the prominence that role-playing fantasy games held in Peterson’s life.
Maben wrote, “Since he joined the bench, about 370 of his Paizo comments were posted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on days that state records show him at work.” Maben noted that Peterson was a prolific contributor on Paizo, where he was known as “demon prince Orcus, Lord of the Undead.”
Stevens and another litigant in a probate case told the Spokesman they were preparing to file complaints with the Idaho Judicial Council due to Peterson’s personal issues and gaming habits. Kootenai Journal has not been successful in discovering any complaints or disciplinary action against Peterson during the time Stevens case was being adjudicated; however, in December 2023, the Spokesman stated it had “obtained documentation of a private reprimand by the Council of Peterson in 2015.”
“He [Peterson] oversees cases involving millions of dollars, yet he couldn’t even pay his own debts,” Stevens told Kootenai Journal on October 5. She pointed out that most government positions preclude people with financial troubles from employment because it opens them up to bribery and corruption.
Stevens attempted an awareness campaign in 2016 of Peterson’s alleged misconduct and concerning habits when he was on the ballot to be retained. She asserts that her efforts were stymied when campaign signs were stolen or destroyed and The Coeur d’Alene Press “forgot” to distribute her paid for advertising flyers during the 2016 general election.
Stevens believes Peterson’s immersion in role-playing fantasy games affects his abilities to remain objective and impartial. “It seems like he treats litigants before him as enemies to be destroyed,” she stated. “Like he feels the need to ‘sock it’ to someone in every case.”
Stevens told Kootenai Journal that the alleged misconduct in her case included failure to perform duties impartially and diligently, failure to dispose promptly of the business of the court, conflict of interest, and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the office into disrepute. “At one point when I was addressing the court, he turned his chair around until he was facing the wall and shouted things at me,” she recalled.
A citizen in the courtroom gallery took note of this on August 20, 2013, and described Peterson’s odd behavior. “During the testimony of [the Respondent] the judge made eye contact and listened to his entire testimony in the same manner…When the Plaintiff was called to testify, the judge blatantly swiveled his chair away from her and faced the back wall of the courtroom. When he did not like her testimony, he would speak loudly over his shoulder and threaten her with testimonial sanction,” the observer said in a written statement to Kootenai Journal on October 8.
According to Stevens, who provided a lengthy list of grievances against Peterson, the following occurred in her case:
- On June 5, 2012, Judge Peterson signed a Stipulated Order regarding mortgage payments requiring Petitioner and Respondent to violate Federal law by misappropriating the minor children’s Social Security funds. “I could have been thrown in jail for misappropriation of Social Security benefits as the children’s representative payee if I had spent the money on the home mortgage according to the local Social Security office, two attorneys, and an agency in town that managed people’s accounts as the representative payee. I spent $70,000 on legal fees and experts.”
- On June 19, 2012, while court was in session, Judge Peterson stated his opinion that the Plaintiff should not have custody of her children. “This biased statement was made without the benefit of a custody trial. The only custody trial ever heard by Judge Peterson in this case was in August 2013. This opinion was strange considering no allegations of neglect or abuse had ever been made by anyone regarding the Plaintiff.”
- On August 23, 2013, testimony from Parenting Coordinator Tim Van Valen (who later became a district magistrate judge) was thrown out. “He [Van Valen] recommended that no change of custody should be implemented at that time. Judge Peterson stated the Parenting Coordinator was not allowed to make custody recommendations. This violated his earlier precedent from March 2012 in which he ordered that a disqualified parenting coordinator would create the custody schedule without any input from the court whatsoever.”
- Judge Peterson ordered Plaintiff and Respondent to never call their children on the phone while in the custody of the other parent. “This was in the absence of any testimony from either party that phone calls had caused any problem in the past. This violated standard court precedent.”
- On January 10, 2014, Judge Peterson held a pretrial conference without notifying Plaintiff.
- On January 31, 2014, Judge Peterson ordered Roland Watson to represent the Plaintiff as a private attorney against her will.
On an unknown date between June 5 and June 15, 2012, someone wrote “Rescinded” across the top of the Stipulated Order regarding mortgage payments and both parties received a copy of the altered document.
However, Stevens said she has not received any documentation showing that the order has been legally rescinded, so believes the original that ordered her to violate Federal law still stands. A Stipulated Order is an agreement between the parties that is submitted to a judge for approval. Stevens said it’s important to note that Kacey Wall’s office generated the Stipulated Order, and claims she and her attorney told Peterson they didn’t agree with it before he signed it.
Judicial malpractice at it’s worst!
Tina Stevens
As Mortensen stated, magistrate judges are overseen by the Idaho Judicial Council. The Council is composed of nine members appointed by the Governor with Senate approval. Although the Council is empowered to recommend to the Supreme Court the removal, discipline, or retirement of a justice, judge, or magistrate judge, it rarely does so, seals the records, and provides little comment to the public.
All district magistrate judges are appointed to their positions. Idaho code 1-2205 empowers the District Magistrates Commission to make these judicial appointments. Stevens believes the practice of appointing judges without extensive public hearings keeps the public in the dark about their character, personality, political leanings, financial encumbrances, and familial relationships.
Candidates for judicial appointment do not have to come before the voters to demonstrate their temperament, qualifications, philosophy, or understanding of the law. “The system allows justices to be unaccountable,” asserts Stevens.
The public’s sole legal remedy is the option to ‘not retain’ a magistrate judge during an election.
Tina Stevens
Membership on the Commission is prescribed by law in Idaho code 1-2203. In the First Judicial District, which covers Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai, and Shoshone counties, the Commission is comprised of the following individuals:
- Judge Lamont Berecz, Administrative District Judge (Kootenai County) — Commission Chairman
- Ronald G. Jacobson, Mayor of Post Falls (Kootenai County) — Appointed by Governor
Jim Hammond, Mayor of Coeur d’Alene (Kootenai County), Resigned from office — To be replaced with Mayor appointed by Governor- Nancy Lewis, Mayor of Kootenai (Bonner County) — Appointed by Governor
- Magistrate Judge James Combo (Kootenai County) — Appointed by Administrative District Judge
- Philip Lampert, Benewah County Commissioner
Luke Omodt, Bonner County Commissioner, Resigned from office — To be replace by next Bonner County Board of Commissioners Chair- Tim Bertling, Boundary County Commissioner
- Leslie Duncan, Kootenai County Commissioner
- David Dose, Shoshone County Commissioner
- Juli Smith, Elector (Kootenai County), Regional Director for US Senator Mike Crapo — Appointed by Governor
- Michael Boeck, Elector (Bonner County) — Appointed by Governor
- Mary Cusack, Attorney, Partner at Cusack Linscott Merck Law Firm, PLLC (Kootenai County) — Nominated by the district bar association, Appointed by Idaho State Bar
- Craig Zanetti, Attorney, Managing Partner at Amendola Doty & Brumley, PLLC (Kootenai County) — Nominated by the district bar association, Appointed by Idaho State Bar
- Michael Rosedale, Bonner County Clerk — Appointed by Administrative District Judge
Stevens asks voters to be informed about Peterson. “You could be a litigant in court for any number of reasons,” she warned. “Do you want to be a litigant in Peterson’s courtroom?” Readers seeking more information about the “Families Against Judge Peterson” campaign can contact Stevens by email at jcpconcernedcitizens@gmail.com.
Peterson did not responded to a request for comment.
Voting in the 2024 Idaho General Election has already begun via absentee ballots, which can still be requested until October 25 at IdahoVotes.gov. Voters are reminded that completed absentee ballots can be returned by hand to the county elections department located at 1808 N. Third Street in Coeur d’Alene. Using the United States Postal Service to return your completed ballot will send it out-of-state to the Spokane Processing and Distribution Center in Washington.
Early in-person voting runs October 15 through November 1, Monday–Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the county elections department. Election day is Tuesday, November 5, and voters can find their polling location and sample ballot here. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day.
Correction on October 11, 2024 at 8:32 a.m.: Language updated to reflect that Kacey Wall had left Walker Amendola Anderson & Doty, PLLC by April 2011, however, she practiced law with Peterson while at the firm.
