In Re Pauley

McGRAW, Chief Justice:

This judicial disciplinary proceeding arises out of what can best be described as a political imbroglio between Magistrate Herbert L. Pauley and the Kanawha County Sheriffs Department. The record reveals that Magistrate Pauley’s troubles first began in 1976, when he was assaulted by a Kanawha County deputy sheriff in the Kanawha County Jail while three other deputy sheriffs passively looked on. As a result of this incident, Pauley filed suit in federal district court against Sheriff G. Kemp Melton and his four deputies, seeking $500,000 in damages.

The relationship…