Washington Supreme Court decides the future of embattled former Tri-Cities judge

An embattled former Tri-Cities judge can't ever hold a judicial position again, the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled.

The order posted Thursday by the state's highest court would have removed Sam Swanberg from from his elected position if he hadn't already resigned in May.

The censure came after the Washington state Commission on Judicial Conduct made the recommendation following a May disciplinary hearing .

The state commission found the judge violated three of the rules that guide the behavior of judges by "engaging in physically violent and emotionally abusive behavior over the decades of his marriage" and "that he harassed and stalked" his ex-girlfriend after the end of their relationship.

Swanberg served nearly seven years in Benton and Franklin counties. He stepped down voluntarily on May 17 even though he'd been acquitted by a Franklin County jury of domestic violence involving his former wife.

He is still a practicing attorney in the Tri-Cities, and the Supreme Court decision doesn't change that.

The panel of attorneys and members of the public who made the Commission on Judicial Conduct decision found that Swanberg insulted the process by declining to participate in their proceeding.

"His unrestrained manifestations of self-pity and personal suffering upon rejection that he (at times) admitted he brought upon himself, further demonstrate his narcissistic self focus," the commission's decision said at the time.

Swanberg's attorney Scott Johnson has been critical of the commission's process. He previously told the Tri-City Herald that the commission decided to believe the allegations of his estranged ex-wife even when a video reportedly showed she was lying.

Swanberg has admitted that he could have acted better at the end of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, but has denied abusing his ex-wife, Stephanie Barnard, who was reelected this week to another term representing the 8th District in the Washington Legislature.

They were married 33 years and have six children.

Johnson tried to negotiate a resolution where he would admit the "behavior he actually engaged in." But the commission wanted him to "lie about being a domestic abuser."

Judicial commission hearing

The commission's ruled followed a day-and-a-half hearing in May when the members heard testimony from his ex-wife and a former girlfriend.

During the hearing, Terry Scanlan, the attorney who argued the case against Swanberg to the state board, called the former judge a "very sad, damaged and disturbed individual, who never had any business of being on the bench in the first place."

He was acquitted in 2022 of domestic violence assault of Barnard and was never charged with a crime involving his former girlfriend, who was a Franklin County clerk. Swanberg did not fight the ex-girlfriend's anti-harassment order.

Swanberg had hoped the judicial commission hearing would be canceled once he resigned, but Commission Executive Director Reiko Callner of Olympia previously told the Tri-City Herald that it's important to reach a conclusion in these cases because it can serve as a future precedent for how judges should behave.

The commission isn't required to meet the same standards as a criminal case when judging behavior and considering evidence because they are not judging a specific crime but a pattern of behavior for an officer of the court.