Agencies investigating judge’s appointment in rape case

Multiple agencies are investigating a Fayette County sexual assault case in which a state Court of Appeals judge overturned a guilty verdict and ordered a new trial, District Attorney Scott Ballard said Tuesday.

The investigations involve Judge Christopher McFadden, a member of the appeals court who had asked to sit as a trial judge to see what it was like in the trenches. During the 2012 trial, the first one McFadden ever presided over, a jury found William Jeffrey Dumas guilty of raping and sodomizing a 24-year-old woman with Down syndrome.

But in February, McFadden threw out the convictions, granting Dumas’ request for a new trial. The District Attorney’s Office has since launched an investigation into whether proper protocols were followed when McFadden was appointed to the case, Ballard said. The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which oversees judicial conduct, is also investigating the matter, he said.

“We’re pooling our resources,” Ballard said. “There have been many different reasons presented to us that raise the question of whether the appointment of Judge McFadden to this case was inappropriate.”

On Tuesday, Jeff Davis, executive director of the judicial watchdog commission, said, “Our rules of confidentiality do not permit the commission to confirm or deny any investigation of any judge.”

McFadden said he could not talk about the case. “Those matters relate to the legal correctness of my decision,” he said. “So the code of judicial conduct prohibits me from commenting.”