NASHVILLE – More than a dozen litigants and attorneys trooped before a Senate panel Tuesday where they accused a judicial watchdog agency of failing to rein in abusive judges in a process often shrouded in secrecy.
Among them was Wendy Rose-Egli, of Knoxville, who told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee that 4th Circuit Court Judge Bill Swann kept control of her child custody case for 41/2 years.
She said Swann refused to recuse himself from her custody case even though her attorney was running against Swann – with her support – and the judge took out a print ad attacking her.
Rose-Egli said the state’s Court of the Judiciary, which is charged with investigating judges, dismissed her first complaint. Later, Rose-Egli said, she was aided in filing another complaint by her second husband, Russell Egli, who is an attorney. The Court of the Judiciary later informed her that they had taken unspecified “private” disciplinary action against Swann, the couple said.
Russell Egli told lawmakers at one point, the then-chief disciplinary counsel of the Court of the Judiciary told his wife that he and Swann were “good friends.”