SALT LAKE CITY — Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said lawmakers will look at starting impeachment proceedings against a judge charged with sexual abuse if he does not step down.
Third District Judge William Kendall, 54, was charged two weeks ago with forcible sexual abuse, distributing or arranging to distribute a controlled substance, and possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Prosecutors said Kendall provided a “weed pen” to a woman on Feb. 21 at a gathering at his home in Salt Lake County. They also said Kendall touched a woman inappropriately multiple times that evening, “all without her consent.”
Kendall is on administrative leave from the court without pay. But in an exclusive interview with KSL-TV on Wednesday, Schultz, R-Hooper, said the judge should have resigned by now.
“As a public official, you are held to a higher standard,” Schultz said. “The House of Representatives constitutionally has the obligation of impeachment. We think it’s something that we should look at.”
Greg Skordas, Kendall’s defense attorney, said they “understand and appreciate” the House speaker’s position. “We don’t think it will be necessary to pursue impeachment proceedings,” Skordas said in a statement. Skordas is also a legal analyst for KSL.
Yet, as of late Wednesday afternoon, Kendall remained on leave and had not submitted his resignation.
No state official has ever been impeached in Utah before. The last time the House started down this path was in 2013 when Republicans voted to investigate allegations against then-Attorney General John Swallow ahead of possible impeachment. Swallow, who later resigned, was charged in a corruption case but was acquitted at trial.
“These instances are rare,” Schultz said. “But when they do happen, I think we have an ethical obligation to take them very seriously.”
Schultz contrasted Kendall’s situation with a similar one in Box Elder County. Former First District Judge Kevin Christensen resigned last month on the same day he was charged with enticing minors for sex.
“That’s what’s best, I think, for the citizens of the state, is that the judge just resigns. That’s our hope,” said Schultz. “But in the event that he doesn’t resign, we are looking at impeachment.”
Schultz said if Kendall doesn’t resign “within the near future,” he plans to start formal impeachment discussions with the rest of the House of Representatives. It would take two-thirds of House members to vote for impeachment, after which the Senate would need to reach the same threshold to convict.
Meanwhile, Kendall — who was appointed as a judge in 2014 by then-Gov. Gary Herbert — is due in court May 12 on his criminal case. He has not been convicted of anything. But Schultz said a conviction is not required to begin the impeachment process.
“All you have to do is lose the trust of the public for impeachment, and that’s certainly happened,” Schultz said. “We would be looking at this same thing if it was one of our members.”
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