Judge Accused of Molesting Boys Resigns

Family Court Judge James D. Sloan, facing possible ouster on charges that he made sexual advances on boys over a 26-year period, said today he is resigning from the bench.

“The decision was made after a lot of thought and consideration and prayer. It was made jointly with my wife,” Sloan said.

The 43-year-old judge was scheduled for trial Oct. 26 before the State Court of the Judiciary on charges that he violated Alabama’s canons of judicial ethics in a series of incidents with boys, including some in his judicial chambers.

The charges stemmed from the case brought against Sloan in Providence, R.I., where he was acquitted last June on charges that he raped and sodomized the 13-year-old grandson of a Mississippi judge in a motel bedroom while attending a judicial conference on how the courts handle child abuse.

After the acquittal, a series of allegations were made by other males who claimed Sloan had either sexually molested them or tried to do so. The allegations dated back to 1961.

Sloan denied the claims that he had sex with the youths.