Updated 12:42 p.m. with more details.
The Missouri Bar Association is out with its judicial retention recommendations.
The organization surveys judges, lawyers and jurors every election year to ask whether the state’s judges should be retained by voters in November.
Of the 51 judges evaluated by the Bar, just one – St. Louis County Judge Dale Hood – did not get a retention recommendation. This is the second time Judge Hood has received a sub-par rating from the group of attorneys.
For the survey, jurors, lawyers and fellow judges evaluate each judge up for re-election in November. They rate the judge on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor. Judge Hood’s score lowered this year on virtually every area surveyed. His lowest scores were in the categories of “demonstrating appropriate demeanor on the bench” and “weighing all the evidence.”
Bruce Hilton chaired the committee that evaluated Judge Hood. Hilton says his committee is only allowed to conduct the survey and release the results, and makes no comment about why Judge Hood would continually receive a low rating.
“I don’t know how to answer that," Hilton said. "It’s not the committee’s job to interpret the survey results. There’s not one item that I can point to that says why our committee voted not to retain.”
Judge Hood did not immediately return calls to his office.
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