In re Inquiry Concerning a Judge, No. 93-146, Ward

We review the recommendation of the Judicial Qualifications Commission that Judge C. Lavon Ward be publicly reprimanded for voluntarily writing a character reference letter on his official court stationery on behalf of a friend who was awaiting sentencing in federal court. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 12, Fla. Const.

On August 26, 1993, the Judicial Qualifications Commission filed a formal complaint charging Judge C. Lavon Ward, a Circuit Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, with voluntarily wilting a character reference letter for Emerson Allsworth on his official court stationery,…