Alabama judge urged to resign over domestic violence incident

A federal judge from Alabama who was arrested last month on charges of battering and kicking his wife in an Atlanta hotel room is facing growing calls to resign, including from lawmakers who say jurists should not be treated more leniently than pro football players.

Alabama’s U.S. senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, both Republicans, urged U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller on Thursday to step down and said his personal conduct was unacceptable. They joined Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) who was the first to call for the judge’s resignation.

“If an NFL player can lose his job because of domestic violence, then a federal judge should definitely not be allowed to keep his appointment to the federal bench,” she said.

Fuller, 55, was arrested at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta on Aug. 10 after his wife, Kelli, called a 911 dispatcher and said her husband was drunk and was hitting her. She said the judge had “pulled her hair, threw her to the ground, dragged her, kicked her and struck her several times in the face,” according to an Associated Press report on the incident.

Police said there were cuts and bruises on her face when she answered the door. Her 17-year old son was in the hotel room and told officers it was not the first time such an incident occurred.

Fuller was held on a misdemeanor battery count, but the charges were dropped on Sept. 5 after he agreed to enter a “domestic violence intervention” program and undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.

Fuller released a statement saying “this incident was very embarrassing to me, my family, friends and the court,” adding he looked forward to “hopefully returning to full, active status” as a judge when he had completed the program.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had suspended him from hearing cases until his legal troubles were resolved.

Fuller’s attorney Barry Ragsdale told reporters the arrest would be expunged after he completed the diversion program. “It will essentially put him back with a clean record,” the attorney said.

But three days later, the NFL announced that Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was suspended indefinitely after the public release of a video showing him knocking out his then-fiancee in a hotel elevator.

The NFL incident drew complaints in Alabama of a double standard involving Judge Fuller.

Several Alabama news outlets said he should resign from the bench or face impeachment.

Fuller has had a controversial career on the bench and his marital problems have garnered public attention before.

He presided over the 2006 trial of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, who was convicted of bribery because he appointed a prominent and wealthy healthcare executive to an unpaid state board after that man gave $500,000 to support a ballot measure campaign to authorize a lottery for education.

A national group of state attorneys came to Siegelman’s defense, arguing that such an appointment did not constitute bribery. The judge pressed the deadlocked jury to reach a verdict, and after the conviction, he ordered the ex-governor handcuffed and led away in leg manacles.

Siegelman is appealing his sentence this fall before the 11th Circuit and citing misconduct by Judge Fuller.

Fuller was divorced from his first wife in 2012, and he arranged to have the records sealed after his wife alleged she was a victim of domestic abuse.

Twitter: @DavidGSavage