Oregon Judge Who Refused to Perform Same-Sex Weddings Also Hung a Picture of Hitler in Courthouse  

For starters, the judge is accused of getting into a very mature-sounding series of arguments in 2013 with a ref at his son’s soccer game, in which he complained that he had “safety concerns,” per the complaint, about the referee, and showed said ref his business card to let the man know he was a judge. He wrote in a letter to the commission that the ref, at a later game, grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him forward. The Commission says they believe that allegation to be false, and the ref never touched him.

Then there’s the issue of the felon and the guns: the complaint says that a veteran identified as “BAS,” supposedly an alumni of SEAL Team Six, appeared in Day’s court on a felony DUI charge. The complaint says Day hired BAS to do some work at his daughter’s home, and that, while there, BAS found a gun in a hidden compartment, and asked if he could “handle” it. The complaint alleges that Day allowed him to handle the gun then and another gun, another time, when Day came over to BAS’s house, along with his son. Convicted felons can’t have or handle firearms, and the commission accuses Day of telling the man, falsely, that because Day was “his” judge he could “waive” that prohibition. (He can’t.) A subsection of the same part of the complaint also claims that BAS’s PTSD was triggered by a book Day ordered him to read.

Saving the best for last, we have the delicate issue of the Hitler portrait, which Day is accused of hanging in the hallways of the courthouse. This one is actually, incredibly, the most understandable: Day told Fox 12 that the picture was part of a display celebrating veterans, and anyway, he took it down:

Day said he took the picture down after about a week, when a fellow judge suggested that it could be seen as offensive.

Day, though, said it was meant to be a tribute to a local serviceman who fought in World War II and sent the painting of Hitler back home.

“It was his, and we overlaid that with various pieces, and the purpose was to show that a young, vibrant democracy of citizen soldiers could overcome a fascist dictator like Adolf Hitler,” said Day.

Day is also accused of inappropriately soliciting money for said hallway decorations from lawyers, including lawyers who appeared in his court. He admits that he did collect donations, but did so on behalf of a non-profit.

Day denies he engaged in any behavior unbecoming of a judge, telling the Associated Press that all of this is the commission going after him for refusing to perform same-sex weddings: “It appears that the commission has thrown everything in but the kitchen sink. The clear issue that they’re after me on is that I had stopped doing weddings because I have a firmly held religious conviction.”

You can read the condensed version of these messy and yet incredibly entertaining accusations in this press release, or the full version in the complaint itself, along with Day’s responses. A hearing is set for November.

Vance Day. Screengra via KOIN 6, Big Time Small-Time Dicks logo by staff male Bobby Finger