Judge Romano DiBenedetto was placed on paid leave a year ago after court staff reported behavior including incidents when he used offensive accents to impersonate people from other ethnic groups or kept a courtroom waiting while he watched sports on TV.
Nome Superior Court Judge Romano DiBenedetto will resign, effective April 1, a spokesperson for the Alaska Court System said Friday.after court staff reported behavior including incidents when the judge used offensive accents to impersonate people from other ethnic groups and kept a courtroom of people waiting while he watched a sports game on TV.
receive a reprimand from the Alaska Supreme Court, which has ultimate authority over discipline for judges. The recommendation stopped short of advising that DiBenedetto face a harsher punishment, such as being removed from the bench. The Alaska Supreme Court had not yet released a decision on DiBenedetto when he tendered his resignation. DiBenedetto was scheduled to stand for a judicial retention election this fall. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The commission found that DiBenedetto, Nome’s only judge since 2017, had undermined public trust in his position and broken judicial ethics canon in a pattern of reported behavior that included mocking patterns of speech of Alaska Native people.While DiBenedetto was on administrative leave — unprecedented for judges being investigated — the state continued paying his full $259,729.08 salary, among the highest in the court system.In Nome, the judge’s absence has meant a parade of visiting judges. The court system will continue to provide visiting and pro tem judges to serve Nome until the position is filled, Alaska Court System spokesperson Rebecca Koford said in an email Friday. Melanie Bahnke, a resident of Nome who formerly served on the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, said in an email that she was glad DiBenedetto had resigned. Bahnke is the president of Kawerak Inc.“I do wish the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Alaska Supreme Court had acted swiftly and with moral clarity to send a message that there is no room for racist judges in our systems,” she said. “That is disappointing. But I am happy overall that no further resources will be expended on ousting someone unbecoming of this position of authority.”The Alaska Judicial Council should take up nominations for the next Nome Superior Court judge at its August meeting, executive director Susanne DiPietro said. “I hope that our next judge is more deserving of the authority and respect that comes with the position,” Bahnke wrote.Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers on the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon. Open & Shut: Anchorage gets new eateries — Polynesian, Mexican and American with global twists — as well as a game board cafe and a cannabis shop
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