• Nation's oldest federal judge dies at 104

    AP

    Judge Wesley Brown is shown in this June 2007 photo.

     

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    WICHITA, Kan. -- U.S. Senior District Judge Wesley Brown, the nation’s oldest sitting federal judge, has died at age 104.

    Brown died Monday evening at Larksfield Place, an assisted-living center where he had lived for several years, Judge Monti Belot told The Wichita Eagle.

    “There comes a time, and he was just ready,” Belot, who also sits on the federal bench in Wichita, told The Eagle.

    Brown was appointed as a federal district judge in 1962 by then-President John F. Kennedy. In 1979, Brown officially took senior status, a type of semi-retirement. But he continued to carry a full load of cases for the next three decades. It was only in recent years that he began to lighten his workload.
      
    Brown's long tenure on the federal bench rivals that of Joseph Woodrough, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, who had been the longest practicing judge in the federal judiciary when he died in 1977 at age 104.

     Belot said Brown had been in weaker health and had not come to the courthouse within the past month.

    “I hope to be remembered as a good judge, and not just an old judge,” Brown told The Eagle last year, sitting in his office.

    Brown graduated from law school at the University of Kansas in 1933. He was appointed a bankruptcy judge in Wichita in 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

    On March 8, 1962, Kennedy nominated him to a seat on the U.S. District Court for Kansas vacated by Delmas C. Hill. Federal judgeships are lifetime appointments.

    Brown was known for his compassion for defendants, according to a 2010 profile in the Huffington Post.

    In sentencing a 28-year-old woman to more than three years in prison in March 2010, he told the tearful defendant how much he and other court officials wanted her to succeed in the future. "As an old man, it is hard for me to say I am sorry it happened," Brown told her, according to The Huffington Post. "I know you will do the right thing. Good luck and be well."

    The Associated Press and msnbc.com's James Eng contributed to this story.

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  • Judge: John Edwards has heart condition

    NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By NBC News and wire services

    Updated 6:40 p.m. ET: Ex-presidential candidate John Edwards has a serious health condition that requires treatment and limits on his travel, sources told NBC News on Friday. It had been reported that the judge delayed Edwards' campaign-finance trial and described Edwards' condition as life-threatening. But a source told NBC News that the condition is an arrhythmia that might require implantation of a pacemaker. Another source said the judge described Edwards' condition as serious.

    And The Associated Press phrased it this way: Federal Judge Catherine Eagles did not disclose the exact nature of Edwards' illness Friday or what procedure he needed. However, she said the two-time presidential candidate had "three episodes" and indicated his condition could be life-threatening if left untreated.

    Earlier story: A judge on Friday agreed to delay the campaign-finance trial of ex-presidential candidate John Edwards after his attorney presented two letters detailing a life- threatening condition that will require surgery next month.

    A cardiologist for the 58-year-old ex-North Carolina senator wrote two letters about his condition to Judge Catherine Eagles who talked about them Friday during a hearing to consider whether the trial would go ahead later this month. She delayed it until at least March 26.

    Edwards walked into the courtroom in Greensboro without assistance and appeared healthy. The judge requested that he be there.

    The judge did not give any more details about what sort of surgery or what illness Edwards may have. The doctor also wrote that Edwards should avoid driving and travel, including to the court proceedings.

    "The public has an interest in a speedy trial, and this case has already been continued twice," Eagles said. "Ordinarily, I would try to manage something like this. But clearly there are some limitations on Mr. Edwards due to real and serious health issues."

    Prosecutors had said they were ready to try Edwards on six felony and misdemeanor counts related to nearly $1 million given by wealthy donors and used to help hide his pregnant mistress during his 2008 White House run.

    Edwards' attorneys need to update the judge on his health by Feb. 28. Eagles also set an attorney's conference for March 1.

    NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Slideshow: Edwards' public life

    Former Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, has faced public and private challenges throughout his life and career.

    Launch slideshow

     

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  • Texas' top court suspends judge in beating video

    Updated 7 p.m. ET

    by The Associated Press

    McALLEN, Texas -  A state judge on Wednesday temporarily ordered that Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams could have only supervised visits with his 10-year-old daughter.

    Adams' ex-wife had asked the courts to change their joint custody agreement to either end visitation or require supervision.

    by The Associated Press

    McALLEN, Texas -- The Texas Supreme Court suspended a judge Tuesday whose beating of his then-teenage daughter in 2004 was viewed millions of times on the Internet.

    Aransas County court-at-law Judge William Adams was suspended immediately with pay pending the outcome of the inquiry started earlier this month by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, according to an order signed Tuesday by the clerk of the state's highest court.

    The order makes clear that while Adams agreed to the commission's recommended temporary suspension and waived the hearing and notice requirements, he does not admit "guilt, fault or wrongdoing" regarding the allegations. His attorney did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

    Adams' now 23-year-old daughter Hillary Adams uploaded the secretly-recorded 2004 video of her father beating her repeatedly with a belt for making illegal downloads from the internet.

    Story: Judge's daughter: Hope beating video gets him help

    William Adams has not sat on the bench since the video went viral. It has been viewed more than 6 million times on YouTube.

    The public outcry over the video was so great that in a rare move the, State Commission on Judicial Conduct announced publicly Nov. 2 that it had opened an investigation. A statement from the commission then said that it had been flooded with calls, emails and faxes regarding the video and Adams.

    William Adams appeared in court Monday for a day-long hearing regarding the custody of his 10-year-old daughter. His wife had sought a change in their joint custody agreement, and another judge imposed a temporary restraining order effectively keeping William Adams from being alone with his younger daughter until he reached a decision. An order was expected in that dispute Wednesday.

    As Aransas County's top judge, William Adams has dealt with at least 349 family law cases in the past year alone, nearly 50 of which involved state caseworkers seeking determine whether parents were fit to raise their children. A visiting judge has been handling his caseload.

    After reviewing the investigation conducted by local police, the Aransas County district attorney said too much time had passed to bring charges against William Adams.

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