Round One: Two Judges in Washington D.C. Get Into Physical Altercation

It is rare to have a judge involved in fist fight but it is even more rare when the other combatant is also a judge. That was the scene this week downtown Washington where Administrative Judge Joan Davenport, 63, went toe-to-toe with Administrative Judge Sharon Goodie. Davenport was charged with misdemeanor simple assault.

Goodie told police that she knocked on Davenport’s door to deliver files on March 31 when the door suddenly opened and Davenport “lunged” at her — causing Goodie to fall “backwards with her arms flailing.” Goodie said that she “landed in a squat position against the wall in the hallway.”

However, Davenport said that she was speaking to a witness when someone began loudly banging on her office door. Goodie then allegedly “stomped in” with case files. After a brief argument, Davenport said Goodie threw down the files and began to yell she was being attacked.

Both judges work in the D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings dealing with public benefits, rehab services and public works.

Davenport’s bio states that she worked with the Baltimore Police Department as well as the Montgomery County Office of the County Attorney. Judge Davenport was also a community representative for Howard University School of Law Dean Kurt L. Schmoke when he was elected Mayor of Baltimore City. She clerked for the Honorable Kenneth Lavonne Johnson of the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City. She earned both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Baltimore, and is a licensed member of both the District of Columbia and Maryland Bars.

Goodie’s bio states Judge Goodie worked as a prosecutor for the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General and handled cases involving juvenile delinquency (criminal) and child abuse and neglect (civil) cases from 1997-2004. She was in private practice in Washington, DC from 1996-1997.Judge Goodie clerked for the Honorable Harriett R. Taylor at the District of Columbia Superior Court from 1994-1995. She received her Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1994, and received her Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Brandeis University in 1985.

Clearly the police believed Goodie. It is alarming to have two judges with such radically different accounts of what occurred. Clearly someone is lying. The police presumably interviewed the witness who is now not just a witness in an administrative case but a criminal case involving the same judge.