State board finds Anoka County judge broke residency rules

A state board's investigation has found that an Anoka County judge failed to live in his judicial district, a violation of Minnesota's Constitution.

Last week, the Board on Judicial Standards filed a formal complaint against District Judge Alan Pendleton for living in his wife's house in Minnetonka, which is in Hennepin County, for eight months starting in December 2013. The board has asked the state Supreme Court to appoint a three-person panel to conduct a public hearing on the matter.

The panel could dismiss the case or recommend that the Supreme Court issue an order for censure, suspension or other sanction.

The case is not without precedent. In 2011, Hennepin County District Judge Patricia Kerr Karasov was censured and suspended without pay for six months for a similar offense. She is no longer an active judge.

In his six-page response to the board, Pendleton strongly denied the allegations. He said he did stay temporarily at his wife's house during the time stated by the board, but it was so that he could find a new residence in Anoka County and handle personal and school issues involving his son.

Pendleton also attacked the board's investigation, describing it as perfunctory. He said the board failed to disclose that it was the complainant in his case, didn't give him proper notice when he was ordered to testify and asked improper questions about his sex life. It is highly unusual for the board to be a complainant in such a case.

Thomas Vasaly, the board's executive secretary, didn't return repeated calls for comment Friday. Doug Kelley, Pendleton's attorney, said his client "always intended to return to and reside in his judicial district."

"The judge took a number of concrete steps to look for an apartment and did it before he ever knew he was being investigated by the board," Kelley said.

Pendleton, 59, was appointed to the Tenth Judicial District by former Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1999.

He received an outstanding judge award from the state's District Judges Association in 2012 for his commitment to improving the judicial system and promotion of judicial efficiency.

"I've been blessed. Oh, not by this honor, which I was not expecting at all and means a great deal to me," he said in a Star Tribune article when he received the award.

"I'm tremendously honored to be part of this profession, to be a small part of the legal system. The recognition embarrasses me a little. It's the system that I love."

The board received information concerning Pendleton in July and met with him a month later.

From July 2012 until November 2013, he owned a condominium in Anoka, it found.

He then sold it and moved into his wife's house. In August 2014, he started to rent an apartment in Anoka County.

When Pendleton filed his affidavit to run for re-election for his judicial office this year, he wrote down the address of the condominium he no longer owned.

Pendleton's response to the board said he received assurances from them that his living arrangements complied with ethical requirements respecting judiciary residency.

He sold his condominium to save money and move closer to his children's high school and moved his personal possessions to a storage unit and temporarily stayed with his wife while he searched for a new apartment, he said.

He argued that that doesn't constitute moving from the district as defined by law and interpreted by the Supreme Court in the Karasov case.

In January 2014, one of Pendleton's children had some personal problems, which caused the judge and his ex-wife to discuss moving the child to another school. Because it was a major decision, Pendleton stayed with his current wife in Minnetonka as the family considered options, he said.

Once the issue was resolved, he promptly located an apartment near his children's high school, he said.

His apartment unit was under renovation, which delayed his occupancy for two months.

In Karasov's case, the public hearing lasted three days. She lived full time in a Chisago County lake home for three months in 2009 and was accused of hindering the judicial board's investigation by failing to cooperate.