A judge who had a secondary role in the recent Anna Nicole Smith proceedings was charged with smoking marijuana in a city park, police said Monday.
Lawrence Korda was smoking marijuana while sitting under a tree Sunday, police said. Three officers who were training there saw Korda and field-tested the cigarette, said Capt. Tony Rode, a police spokesman.
The judge was not arrested. He was given a misdemeanor citation to appear in court.
“Judge Korda was not given special treatment because of his status as a circuit court judge,” Rode said. “He was provided with a notice to appear. That’s exactly what 99 percent of other offenders would have been given for this type of offense.”
A message left by The Associated Press at the judge’s chambers after hours Monday was not immediately returned.
Seidlin allowed a court-appointed advocate for Smith’s infant daughter to decide where Smith should be buried, and the lawyer decided it would be in the Bahamas.
Korda later heard brief arguments in a related case, seeking to determine the biological father of the baby. He ruled that a Bahamian court had jurisdiction over the child’s custody.