Yavapai County Superior Court officials were continuing to gather information Tuesday about Judge Celé Hancock’s arrest on suspicion of extreme DUI last weekend.
Prescott police said Hancock was arrested Sunday afternoon after they got a call about a possibly impaired driver.
They said Hancock was parked outside a grocery store before driving off and was pulled over by a police officer.
Hancock showed signs of alcohol consumption and failed several sobriety tests, according to police.
They said breath tests showed Hancock initially had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.158% with later tests at 0.219% and 0.214% —all far above Arizona’s DUI threshold of 0.08% for drivers.
State law defines extreme DUI for drivers who have a blood-alcohol content of 0.15% or higher.
Police said Hancock was cited and later released. She has been licensed to practice law in Arizona since 1996 and was first elected to the Yavapai County bench in 2010.
A call to Hancock’s office Tuesday seeking comment on her arrest was redirected to court officials.
“The court has a duty to obtain as much information as possible about any criminal allegations related to its personnel,” Deputy Court Administrator Julie Malinowski said in a statement. “This process is no different for judges. We have begun gathering information.”
3 thoughts on “Yavapai County judge is arrested on suspicion of extreme DUI – Associated Press”
I wonder how many times the judge was drunk while in court. She should be yanked from her judicial position, but I doubt any punishment will occur.
we have an active child custody case that has been pending for 18 months. Hancock’s deadline to rule is Monday. the father was found to be physically and emotionally abusive to his 6 kids by a forensic physiologist but maintained custody because she ignored his lies and contempt actions. Hancock ignored facts and did not follow the law during the entire case. result is irreparable damage to kids and mother financially destitute with $120k debt from Hancock’s misconduct. not only should she be removed without pension but where were her co-wotkers that failed to speak up during her drinking career. they all knew!
Why is it that when someone breaks the law there are always comments for them to lose their pension? Taking someone’s pension not only hurts the lawbreaker but their family. If there is a fine, that’s ok, but taking all their money with no law to support is just flat illegal.
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