Lowcountry Judge Carmen Mullen defends 2017 intervention before judicial conduct panel

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WTOC) - A Lowcountry circuit judge appeared before a state judicial disciplinary panel in Columbia to defend her actions during a 2017 incident on Hilton Head Island, arguing she stepped into an active mental health crisis to save a man’s life rather than abuse her power.

Fourteenth Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen, who has served on the bench since 2006, is facing formal complaints before the South Carolina Commission on Judicial Conduct for the first time in her judicial career.

The proceedings stem from complaints filed in 2022 following the public release of a December 2017 police report and dashcam video.

Disciplinary counsel accused Mullen of overstepping judicial boundaries by improperly intervening with Beaufort County sheriff’s deputies, attempting to suggest or establish probable cause to detain an individual, and creating the appearance of misusing the prestige of her office.

“Here, Judge Mullen, she blurred the lines,” South Carolina Office of Disciplinary Counsel’s Ericka Williams said.. “She attempted to act as law enforcement, she attempted to act as a magistrate, and she attempted to bypass prosecution.”

The charges trace back to an incident in Mullen’s gated Hilton Head Island neighborhood.

Deputies were called to handle an ongoing civil dispute between a woman and Ernest Lotito, a man she had allowed to stay with her family but wanted removed from the property.

Records and testimony show Mullen was driving nearby when she observed deputies and a crowd surrounding Lotito, who was acting erratically.

Mullen said she recognized Lotito because she had previously presided over a court case involving him, during which a psychiatric evaluation determined he was mentally incompetent.

Mullen and her husband were also aware of him because he had worked with him in law years ago.

Fearing the encounter could escalate into physical harm or death, Mullen stopped to address deputies on scene.

“I have the moral duty to help, to do something, and I wanted to make sure they had the knowledge and that he was taken care of,” Mullen testified, adding that her judicial title was not a consideration at the time. “Not at the forefront of my mind at all. He needed help, and someone needed to understand help and make sure that a situation that surely was a mental crisis didn’t become a tragedy.”

Mullen’s defense attorney, Dawes Cooke Jr., argued that the complaints were fueled by political adversaries seeking to push her off the bench, maintaining that her sole intent was preserving life.

“Judge Mullen wasn’t analyzing the canons of judicial conduct. She was looking for a way to save this man’s life,” Cooke said. “Is it really the law in South Carolina that out of all the professions, a judge is expected to turn her back on somebody whose life is in danger?”

The seven-member judicial panel did not issue an immediate ruling following the hearing.

They will review the hearing transcript before submitting a formal report within 30 days to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which holds final authority to dismiss the charges or impose disciplinary sanctions.