State board reprimands Dakota County judge
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The state board that investigates judicial misconduct has publicly reprimanded and fined a Dakota County judge.
The board on judicial standards fined Dakota County Judge Michael Sovis $1000 for violating judicial rules on impartiality.
The board found Sovis personally ordered police to arrest of a man based solely on the judge's private conversations with a friend of Sovis' family.
The judge also issued restraining and contempt orders against the same man and never advised him of his right to a trial, right to an attorney and other constitutional rights.
The Board has twice privately disciplined Sovis in the past. In 1996 and in 2005, the board privately warned him for dismissing traffic and misdemeanor citations without notifying prosecutors.
Sovis is running unopposed for re-election in November.
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