Questions surround conduct of judicial candidate: ‘Office prank’ draws harassment allegation

‘Office prank’ draws harassment allegation

Graham
Graham

The past conduct of a candidate for Division 1 Garland County District Court judge has drawn scrutiny in social media as early voting gets underway for the May 22 nonpartisan general election.

An allegation of sexual harassment against Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham, stemming from a 2013 incident, was initially made in an email, then posted April 20 to the Facebook page Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and later shared to other pages.

The post alleged Graham removed a photo, containing full frontal nudity, from a case file of a male defendant accused of sexual assault. The post alleged Graham then made copies of the photo and displayed it to a female staff member and placed it on her desk. "Needless to say she was in shock that someone in his position would do such an act," the post said. "Another female staff member witnessed this action and she too was in shock. Both were highly offended."

Graham told The Sentinel-Record on Friday that the allegations contained in the original email and the post, neither of which had any attribution, were "completely inaccurate, exaggerated and embellished for political gain."

The post noted a complaint was filed against Graham with his supervisor, former Prosecuting Attorney Steve Oliver, and Graham was sanctioned with a verbal warning and allowed to maintain his employment.

Terri Harris, who was chief deputy prosecutor at the time and later served as interim prosecuting attorney after Oliver retired early for health reasons, posted a response in which she stated "the allegations against Mr. Graham are true" and that she was an eyewitness and reported the incident to Oliver.

She stated Oliver instructed her to deal with it, and she called Graham into her office for "a private verbal reprimand," explaining he had subjected the county and Oliver and her to potential civil litigation.

"I tried to get an explanation as to why he would have engaged in such deviant behavior. He didn't have a good explanation other than to tell me 'I didn't think it would bother anyone' or words to the affect. We left the meeting with the understanding that he was there to do the people's business and not to engage in such conduct," she wrote.

Harris said she didn't make a written record of the incident "as I should have done" and that it was wrong of her to have protected him. "I should have better protected the female staff as well as other females who Mr. Graham may have authority over in one way or another as his career progressed," she said, noting, "I am owning my own poor judgment."

Harris told The Sentinel-Record Friday she stood by her statement. Harris is currently working as a part-time public defender and acknowledged she has publicly supported the candidacy of Graham's opponent, Tamra Barrett, a co-worker, posting numerous statements endorsing her on Facebook.

Graham told the newspaper there was a sexual assault case where the victim had given a description of the defendant's genitalia and a photo of the defendant was obtained that verified the victim's description, eventually resulting in the defendant being sentenced to prison.

"When the case file came in down in this office, everyone was laughing about it," Graham said, adding the defendant's genitalia was notably small. He said he did take two copies of the photo up to the prosecutor's fourth-floor office and put them in the offices of two male staff members.

"I thought they would find it humorous. I didn't show it to any females. It was an office prank and not meant to be offensive to anyone. I later apologized to everyone who I thought I might have offended and everyone told me they weren't offended," Graham said.

Pam Rogers, who has worked as the prosecutor's office administrator for 11 years, following 10 years working at a prosecutor's office in Oklahoma, said Harris was not in the office when the incident occurred. She said she worked on the fourth floor along with two male co-workers and a female receptionist.

"In all those years of my career, this incident was one of the most insignificant moments in my life, but it sticks in my memory like a movie because it was brought up to me so often by Terri Harris. She wanted me to be offended," Rogers said, noting she never told Harris about the incident and wasn't sure how she ever found out about it to complain.

"I am offended by being referred to as a victim. I have never been a victim," she said. The day of the incident, she said she saw Graham walk past her office going back to the male co-worker's office and he "was doing something inside his doorway." When she asked him what he was doing, she said Graham just smiled and said he was putting something up for the other worker.

"He did not lay any photos on my desk. He didn't even come into my office. He didn't show me or the other female anything. In fact, I kept working and didn't even get up." She said the receptionist came back and asked what Graham had been doing and then they both went into the male co-worker's office to look and found the photo where he had left it where the co-worker "would see it when he sat down."

"Honestly, I looked at it and couldn't even figure out what it was at first. It was a male body. No head. A grown man. I couldn't even see his (genitalia)," she said.

Harris called her later that day and asked her about "naked photos" and she confirmed Graham had put one in the co-worker's office. "She told me to take it down and I did. That was the entire incident. She tried to get me to be offended, but I have seen pictures a thousand times worse."

She said Graham later apologized to her and she told him he had nothing to apologize for and that she was not offended. "The idea that they are trying to destroy this man over something so insignificant has really upset me. (Graham) is the nicest man. I have never seen him get angry. I've never heard him cuss. Ever. This just really upsets me."

She said it was "a stupid thing" for Graham to have done. "He played a prank. Maybe it went over the line, but in my mind it didn't. To bring it up now, I just couldn't stand it. I am really disappointed with how it's all being handled."

Graham said the incident "remained insignificant" until a negative article about Barrett was published by a statewide publication. "That's when all this started," he said, noting he signed a waiver for Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence to release his personnel file "to anyone who asks for it," which includes "glowing reviews" from all three prosecutors he has worked under.

"That includes (Harris) who specifically commented on my relationship with other staff members," he said.

Graham said under Oliver he was in charge of all the violent and sex-related crimes in Division 1. After Harris took over in 2015, she made Lawrence her chief deputy and "my role expanded where I was doing every violent and sex felony in both divisions." He also noted Harris had the power to retain or replace any staff member, but she kept him on.

When Lawrence took over, he was promoted to chief deputy prosecutor. "In the past, that position was almost exclusively administrative, but Michelle asked me to continue to handle the rapes and murders which I was glad to do," he said.

In an employee evaluation issued by Harris on Nov. 20, 2015, obtained by the newspaper, she wrote of Graham's management skills: "Joe is even-tempered with those he supervises, willing to stop and explain issues. Treats co-workers in a respectful manner."

Local on 05/09/2018

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