Comments to divorce attorney may have led to Caldwell action

A report emanating from Fayette County indicates a contentious divorce case there may be at the crux of the demand earlier this week by the Judicial Qualifications Commission for the mandatory resignation of Judge Johnnie Caldwell.The divorce involves Gregory Ellis Crook and Janet Bell Crook. Actions in the case were first filed in 2008.Over the course of the case’s lifetime, all four circuit judges – Caldwell, senior judge Paschal English and judges Tommy Hankinson and Christopher Edwards – have recused themselves.Documents filed in the case alleged that Caldwell exhibited conduct and made statements to Susan Brown, an attorney involved in the case, outside the courtroom that were improper.A lengthy, exhaustive report on the matter appears http://www.thecitizen.com/articles/04-22-2010/caldwell-file-which-judges-knew-what-and-when