Judge accused of racially charged comments toward prosecutor

(AP) — The Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission has charged a black circuit judge with six counts of misconduct for a series of racially charged public comments.

Jeff Cooke, a spokesman for Wine's office, declined to comment on the charges other than to repeat that the office supports diversity in juries and asked the Supreme Court to intervene only to clarify the law so all courts in the state follow the same rules.

The child's mother, whose family was held at gunpoint by two African-American men during an armed robbery, wrote a victim impact statement to the court saying the girl had developed a fear of black men.

Earlier this week, Stevens filed a lawsuit against the commission, alleging that it violated his First Amendment guarantee to free speech and alleged that any sanctions could silence public officials from speaking out about inequality.