Judge Gets Slapped In Ole Miss.

JACKSON - A recommendation that Leflore County Court Judge Solomon Osborne be suspended for 90 days without pay and assessed more than $2,500 has reached the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance made the recommendation on Osborne. The case is among dozens the Supreme Court will hear in the September-October term.

In late March, a federal jury ordered Osborne to pay former repo man Chris Reed $80,000 in compensatory and punitive damages in connection with an incident in 2002. The commission has alleged that Osborne failed to "observe the high standards of conduct required of a judge by making a public spectacle on the streets of Greenwood while impeding the repossession of an automobile."

The car was a Mercedes registered to Osborne's wife and mother-in-law and parked at the judge's law office. At the time, according to the commission's report, payments on the car were around $3,000 in arrears.

Once Reed left the scene, Osborne and another man, Tennie Benford, pursued Reed in Benford's vehicle and, at one point, cut Reed off. According to the commission report, Osborne beat on Reed's vehicle repeatedly.

Osborne abused his power, influenced the actions of police and demeaned the judicial office, the commission said.