Attorney Robert Myers of Hamilton is scheduled to appear before an adjudicatory panel of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to answer three complaints of professional misconduct currently pending against him. The hearings are scheduled for Thursday, July 20 at the Holiday Inn Missoula Downtown, 200 Pattee Street. The hearings, all scheduled on the same day, run consecutively at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The hearings are open to the public. A report of the panel’s findings will be forwarded to the Montana Supreme Court for potential disciplinary action.
Myers ran and lost in both the primary and general elections last year against incumbent Ravalli County District Judge Jeffrey Langton. During the course of the election, Myers ran a series of advertisements that made several allegations that Langton had broken the law in different ways. He accused Langton, among other things, of purchasing drugs and providing alcohol to a 13-year-old boy over whom he later would sit in judgment. Myers claims that Judge Langton is “unfit for office” and has “abused his power as a judge.” The current three complaints before the ODC accuse Myers of making statements that he knew to be false about Langton.
Langton also had charges of criminal defamation placed against Myers and as a result Myers was being investigated by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office. In response, Myers filed a lawsuit in federal court asking that portions of the state’s judicial and professional codes be declared unconstitutional. He believes the prohibition against making false statements about a judge during a campaign is a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.
Myers claims in his federal lawsuit that the investigation launched over Langton’s complaint involves the very same witnesses that he needs to testify on his behalf in the ODC complaints against him. He wants the federal court to declare the state’s criminal defamation law unconstitutional and enjoin the state from enforcing it. He is also asking for “nominal damages” and the cost of litigation and attorney fees. A trial in this case is scheduled for September.