ORLANDO, Fla. — Concluding a multi-year disciplinary proceeding, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Seminole County judge who a judicial commission found acted like a “playground bully” in court, cursing defendants and denying their rights, will receive a 60-day suspension and a public reprimand.

Circuit Court Judge Wayne Culver received the suspension without pay for his behavior in two cases in February 2022 in which he held or threatened to hold several people in contempt of court. He had agreed to a near-identical suspension that same year as part of a settlement with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, but the state supreme court rejected it, instead ordering a full hearing before the commission.

This time, the court decided to implement the commission’s recommended punishment. Culver’s suspension will begin within 30 days and the clerk of the supreme court will set a date for him to appear before the court for the reprimand.

The commission also had recommended Culver continue anger management courses and stress treatment, but the supreme court declined to endorse that suggestion because the Florida Constitution doesn’t list it as an allowable punishment.

One of the February 2022 cases at issue involved Culver holding Samuel Perez in criminal contempt for failing to complete a domestic violence program. Culver sentenced Perez to 179 days in jail, the maximum number of days possible, according to the commission’s July final report on Culver’s actions.

As part of the proceeding, Culver denied Perez’s request to speak on his own behalf, and ordered him into custody immediately. When a woman in the court gallery subsequently attempted to address Culver, he told her, “Ma’am, sit down or you’re going into custody as well.”

Perez later successfully appealed his case and had his sentence vacated, although he had already spent over a month in jail. The commission’s investigative panel later found it was a violation of due process not to allow Perez his right to be heard.

The day after he confronted Perez, Culver yelled at another defendant, Kevin Newton, who had entered the courtroom in the middle of a hearing, to “shut up and sit down.” When the defendant told the judge he had encountered trouble finding a seat in the gallery to await his hearing, Culver responded with profanity.

“That’s not shutting up. You want to be held in contempt and go to jail? I asked you a f—ing question, a–hole,” Culver said. The commission found that Culver also failed to allow Newton his right to be heard.

The commission found that in each case Culver violated aspects of Florida’s judicial canon including: He did not establish, maintain and enforce the highest standards of conduct; he did not promote judicial confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary; and he was not faithful to the law, patient, dignified and courteous.

The supreme court agreed he violated the canons and that Culver’s conduct toward Newton was so unacceptable and damaging to public opinion that he could have been a candidate for removal from the bench. However, the commission said it had received “overwhelming” mitigating evidence in Culver’s defense.

Several figures from the 18th Circuit Court testified to Culver’s character including State Attorney Phil Archer, current Chief Judge Charles Crawford, former Chief Judge Jessica Recksiedler and Seminole County chief assistant public defender James Dowdy.

Culver told the commission his behavior arose from the stress of being his ailing father’s primary caregiver. He has been seeing a psychologist since April 2022 and has taken an anger management course.

He has apologized to other judges on the circuit court for his conduct and any potential embarrassment to the judiciary, and told the commission even he was shocked by his profanity. He acknowledged that members of the public were rightly appalled, according to records from both the commission and the supreme court.

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