PALM HARBOR - Charles W. Cope, the Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge who resigned last week, said Wednesday that he still drinks occasionally but that alcohol had nothing to do with his decision to leave the bench.
Cope said he controls his drinking and said nobody has alleged alcohol ever affected his work.
"Did I ever go to the office under the influence? The answer is absolutely not," Cope said in a 90-minute interview at his Palm Harbor home. "I have not abused alcohol and I will not abuse alcohol, and I do not abuse anything else."
In his first interview since he left the Pinellas-Pasco circuit bench Jan. 23, Cope said he resigned to avoid a bruising battle with state lawmakers over impeachment. Cope also said forces within the Judicial Qualifications Commission wanted him out.
"I think that every judge throughout the state should be fearful of the process that affected me," Cope said. "It's very unfair. ... I don't have the resources to fight the Legislature. And, frankly, if they don't want me as a judge, I'll be a better lawyer. It's their loss, my gain."
Cope said his undoing was all about anger generated by the lawsuit he filed this year against the two women who accused him of trying to break into their hotel room in 2001.
"Let me tell you what didn't happen," Cope said. "I didn't do anything wrong. There's no misconduct. The only thing I did was file suit in California."
Cope, 54, sometimes near tears during a wide-ranging interview, said that his wife left him in recent days and that he will soon be forced to sell his $666,000 home to make ends meet. He said he still owes more than $300,000 in legal bills.
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"Do you want to buy it?" he asked.
The Florida Bar also has confirmed it is conducting an investigation of Cope's behavior while a judge, which could endanger his license to practice law.
"I've lost everything," Cope said. "I don't think my mistakes justify where I am right now. ... I'm on the outside now. I'm done."
Cope said his daughter, Marie, is scheduled to return home soon after a stint overseas with the Navy. Cope stared at a picture of her on his living room wall. His eyes teared up. Cope hasn't told her he isn't a judge anymore.
"How do I tell her?" he asked.
Cope's alleged drinking first hit the news with a 1996 DUI charge that was later dismissed. Cope acknowledged being intoxicated in Carmel, Calif., during an April 2001 encounter with two women who accused him of trying to break into their hotel room with a stolen key.
Cope, visiting California for a judicial conference, denied the allegation and called the women liars, but admitted he was intoxicated. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor public intoxication charge.
Cope testified at a JQC trial in 2002 that he had stopped drinking. On Wednesday, he did not specify how often he now drinks, and he said he was never under any mandate from JQC officials or anyone else to stop drinking entirely.
"I know the argument that you're in denial if you're an alcoholic and still drink," Cope said. "I think that's true for some people. But generalities have exceptions."
Asked during the interview Wednesday morning if he had been drinking that day, Cope said, "No comment."
A JQC panel that in 2002 found Cope guilty of public intoxication and inappropriate intimate conduct with a woman strongly suggested the judge refrain from drinking.
"Although there was absolutely no evidence that alcohol use had interfered with Judge Cope's functions as a judge, he is now on notice of this very serious potential problem and he must take steps now to totally avoid all drinking in the future," the JQC said in an August 2002 final order.
Cope refused to reveal details about the Jan. 23 meeting he had with Judge David Demers, chief of the circuit, Judge Susan Schaeffer and Judge Nancy Moate Ley during his final day on the bench. Cope was called out of a trial to attend the meeting.
Afterward, Cope immediately left the courthouse. The next day, he submitted his resignation, effective Monday.
Cope said his resignation came after he heard lawmakers wanted to impeach him. He said he holds no ill will toward the three judges he met with.
"Judge Demers was just the messenger," Cope said.
Cope said powers within the state made it clear to him that his lawsuit against the women "was the last straw" for him and that he would have to resign or face removal. Cope refused to say who told him this.
"I truly believe that the lawsuit was filed for the purpose of public vindication and it's turned into public vilification because those folks are perceived as victims when in fact they're perpetrators," Cope said.
Cope said he heard allegations that his suit, filed in California, was inaccurate, leading to a renewed call for his ouster. For instance, the suit said Cope suffered lost wages, when he didn't. It also said charges against Cope were terminated in his favor.
Cope, who was on paid leave for a year while his criminal case in California was ongoing, said, "Obviously, I didn't lose any wages. I'm losing wages now. So, maybe it's right."
Cope said the lawsuit was simply to put the women on notice of general allegations. It wasn't meant to be the final, complete word on his losses, Cope said.
He said he would not dismiss his suit. "What is my incentive to dismiss it now?" Cope said. "I can't get my job back."
Cope talked with anger about the JQC, saying counsel for the judicial watchdog had long been out to remove him from office.
In recent months, Cope said JQC lawyers had interviewed lawyers who had appeared before him, looking for hints of misconduct. Cope said the JQC never contacted him directly.
"I was aware that they were looking," Cope said. "I was also aware that they had nothing to find. ... I'm done. They won. I lost."
Cope said his colleagues on the bench have generally been supportive of him. A few, he said, have not. He lashed out at Pinellas County Judge Walt Fullerton, who has publicly criticized Cope.
"Fullerton is an idiot," Cope said. "He's a wannabe. He'll never be a circuit judge."
Cope said Circuit Judge Jack St. Arnold, angered by Cope's behavior, recently refused to trade a weekend duty shift with him.
"My comment to him was, "What goes around, comes around,"' Cope said.
Cope wants to practice law locally but does not yet have specific plans. He said he looks forward to earning more than the $134,000 he earned annually as a judge.
"There's no bitterness and I respect those who made the decisions they had to make," Cope said. "I intend to move on and take advantage of my current circumstances that I perceive as an opportunity. What do I gain from being bitter? That's why I'm a good judge."
