Circuit Court Judge Marvin Wiggins has been suspended with pay after the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission filed misconduct charges against him over a child custody case that began two years ago in Perry County.

The charges were brought to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, which could censure, suspend, or remove Wiggins from the bench. The charges were not made public until this week.

Under Alabama law, Wiggins can’t act as a judge while the commission charges are pending. By Alabama Constitutional law, Wiggins will have 30 days to file a response. After that, the case will go the courts.

Wiggins has served as a judge for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, serving Bibb, Dallas, Hale, Perry and Wilcox counties since 1999.

Abuse of Judicial Authority and Impropriety were the charges brought to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. The complaint is based upon the following conduct of Wiggins in violation of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics. He presided over the Delcambre v. Billingsley custody case from June 8, 2017 until recusing himself on Feb. 2, 2018.

Terry L. Delcambre attempted to modify custody of his minor child with Lakesha Billingsley. He requested custody, but reasonable visits for Billingsley. At the time, Delcambre was living in Pensacola, while Billingsley remained in Marion.

Tina Moon, Delcambre’s attorney, argued during one of the hearings is that Wiggins’ conversations with Billingsley affected the father’s exercise of his visitation rights.

Wiggins began working with a mentor on judicial ethics and attended a four-day National Judicial College’s course “Ethics, Fairness and Security in your courtroom and community.”

During the investigation, the Commission learned Wiggins recused himself from the custody/visitation case, but not the divorce case.

The commission charges that Wiggins violated Canon 1 of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics which says a judge should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.

The Commission also charged that Wiggins violated Canon 2 which states a judge should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all his activities and that he should conduct himself at all times that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and avoid bringing the office into disrepute.

Wiggins had two other cases brought to the Judiciary. Three years ago, Wiggins was suspended after he threatened to throw defendants in jail who had no money to pay their fines unless they donated blood. In July 2009 Wiggins received a public reprimand and was ordered to serve 90 days without pay for ethics violations involving a voter fraud investigation that involved some of his relatives.