Judicial Conduct Commission Files Charges Against Judge

Retired Judge Darvin ZimmermanVANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Commission on Judicial Conduct announced it has filed a statement of charges against former Clark County District Court Judge Darvin Zimmerman.

The commission found probable cause that Zimmerman allegedly violated the Code of Judicial Conduct when he was caught on courtroom cameras in March disparaging a Black man who was fatally shot by Clark County sheriff’s deputies last year, as well as his father, the Columbian reported.

Stepping away

The commission said Zimmerman violated the code “by making comments about a controversial incident and the related impending case(s) that displayed racial bias, indicated a lack of impartiality, and implied that he had a personal channel of communication with the sheriff’s department regarding pending and impending cases.”

Zimmerman has 21 days to respond to the charges. If he does not, it will be treated as an admission of the allegations, according to the statement of charges.

His attorney could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Following criticism and calls for his resignation, Zimmerman retired on June 30. He had temporarily stepped away in March after self-reporting his comments to the commission. His son is a sheriff’s deputy and a member of the interagency drug task force that was trying to arrest Kevin Peterson Jr., who was shot in 2020.