Court reprimands SC judge for calling employees ‘heifer’

It was funny, Edgefield County probate judge Robert “Bobby” Peeler thought, to call employees nicknames like “heifer” and “DW” — for “young cow” and “double wide.”

The S.C. Supreme Court thought otherwise.

The state’s highest court cited those terms — apparently referring to body types — in Wednesday releasing a public reprimand of Peeler, who has resigned from office. The reprimand doesn’t identify the gender of the employees that Peeler was addressing. But some males use the terms to address females.

Peeler “admits making the inappropriate and unprofessional comments but maintains he was joking when the comments were made,” the Supreme Court wrote.

Peeler also played “pranks and jokes” during courtroom working hours that he now admits were “unprofessional and discourteous,” the reprimand said without elaborating.

Peeler could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Peeler also was sanctioned for a series of irregular financial transactions involving the bank account for his magistrate’s court, using it temporarily to hold insurance proceeds due Peeler, money that eventually wound up in his stepson’s hands.

Among the judicial ethics that Peeler violated was one that requires judges always be “patient, dignified and courteous” to those they deal with in an official capacity. Judges also are required to avoid financial dealings that “may reasonably be perceived to exploit the judge’s position,” the opinion said.

Peeler, who became a probate judge in 1991, resigned in August 2017, court records say.

The five justices’ unanimous opinion indicated the Supreme Court might have removed Peeler from office if he had not resigned.

Peeler “has agreed ... not to seek or accept another judicial position in South Carolina without first obtaining express written permission from this court,” the justices wrote. A public reprimand is “the most severe sanction that can be imposed” since Peeler no longer is a magistrate, the court said.

Probate judge handle court matters such as wills, legal actions concerning estates and marriage licenses.

(Correction: Original versions of this story referred to Peeler as a magistrate. He was a probate judge.)

This story was originally published August 22, 2018 at 5:07 PM.