Limestone County Judge Daniel Burkeen partially resigned this week as part of an agreement to end the State Commission on Judicial Conduct's investigation into his conduct.
Eric Vinson, the commission's executive director, confirmed by phone that Burkeen would stop engaging in judicial functions but would continue to serve as county judge in an administrative capacity through May 31. In other words, Burkeen will continue to be the county's chief administrator but will cease hearing judicial cases.
Burkeen placed third in the March 6 Republican primary, leaving candidates Richard Duncan and Mark Roark to compete in the May 22 primary runoff election. The Limestone County Commissioner's Court will have the option to immediately appoint the runoff winner to replace Burkeen, Vinson said.
Burkeen signed his resignation agreement on March 28. The commission's chair signed it on March 29.
The agreement came after the commission voted to institute formal removal proceedings against Burkeen. Rather than contest those proceedings, the judge offered his resignation.
The commission issued a public reprimand of Burkeen in February 2018. In that reprimand, the commission concluded Burkeen's posts on social media cast doubt on his ability to be a fair judge in court.
"After considering the facts and evidence before it, the Commission concludes that Judge Burkeen's postings to his Facebook page, including a meme endorsing the extermination of Muslims and his statements regarding 'liberals' cast reasonable doubt on his capacity to act impartially as a judge," the commission wrote in the public reprimand.
Burkeen has faced criticism since 2017 when he was arrested in Mart for DWI. At the time, Burkeen blamed an "old home remedy" for asthma.
Channel 6 left a message with Burkeen's office. We will update this story if the judge decides to comment. Due to the holiday weekend, it was not immediately clear when Burkeen might receive the message.
