(LEX 18) — A suspended chief circuit court judge on trial for ethics charges has resigned from her position.
Embattled Judge Beth Maze sent her resignation to the governor's office October 24th, just days ahead of her ethics trial before the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission which started Monday.
Her trial is still underway despite a motion by Maze's attorney to halt it. Judge Maze faces six ethics charges related to the arrest of her ex-husband, a former Bath County attorney who went to prison for vote-buying.
In today's testimony, the JCC heard from a former detective, former police chief and Maze's court secretary along with the commonwealth's attorney.
She presided over Bath, Rowan, Menifee and Montgomery Counties, but was suspended by the JCC with pay for the past year. She's accused of issuing court drug test orders for her ex when he was arrested in 2017.
It's alleged that she signed orders that showed the Commonwealth's Attorney and Bath County Attorney had seen them, when in fact, they hadn't. The name of her her ex-husband's attorney was also on the order. Today Michael Campbell testified he was not aware of any drug test orders when Champ Maze was arrested. Commonwealth's Attorney Ronnie Goldie said, "It was concerning that it says I saw something and agreed to it, when I did not."
Maze claims she mistakenly believed the orders were for distribution only and not that the attorneys had seen and agree to them.
The ethics trial is expected to take several days. In a separate case, Maze faces criminal charges of two counts of forgery second degree and tampering with public records related to her ex-husband's arrest.
