Idaho Judicial Council reprimands Peterson

COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho Judicial Council has imposed a public reprimand on First District Judge Clark Peterson, seven months after he was placed on administrative leave.

“This reprimand was imposed with consent upon a finding regarding Judge Peterson’s judgment in failing to alter or eliminate his practice of changing clothes in his chambers without properly securing them, in violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct,” said a news release issued Thursday by the Idaho Judicial Council.

In May, Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan signed two sealed orders titled “required administrative leave of first judicial district magistrate judge.”

Since then, court schedules show that other judicial officers have been covering Peterson’s docket, while Peterson remained a duly elected magistrate judge.

Before the Idaho Judicial Council’s announcement this week, no information about the reason for Clark’s administrative leave was publicly available.

Peterson, who has been a magistrate judge since 2010, came under fire nearly a decade ago for his involvement in the hobby of tabletop gaming and for reportedly posting hundreds of comments in a gaming forum during working hours.

In 2020, the council publicly reprimanded Peterson for inaccurately reporting vacation and leave time. Peterson forfeited seven days of vacation pay, in addition to the reprimand.