The Brimhall Files: Judge-Elect Believes He is More Qualified Than Ever Following Arrest

Note: This is part three in a series on the arrest and prosecution of Circuit Judge-elect Doug Brimhall. 

JONESBORO, Ark. – Circuit Judge-elect Doug Brimhall believes he is a better choice for judge now, after his arrest and guilty plea to harassment, than he was before the incident.

“I thought I was the right choice before the election,” Brimhall said. “I think this makes me an even better choice.”

It was one of several candid answers Brimhall gave NEA Report on Oct. 22 in an exclusive interview that lasted over two hours. Topics ranged from his arrest and prosecution, covered here extensively, to his feelings on the calls for him to step aside as a judge.

Brimhall said he would not step aside and would serve as a circuit judge, so long as it was his choice. However, he could not say for certain that he would be the judge pending a decision by the Judicial Disciplinary and Disability Commission.

Opening Statement

We began the interview by asking Brimhall if there was anything he wanted to say – an opening statement, of sorts. Brimhall said he did not want to do an interview but after months, he felt like his story needed to be shared. He said he’s figured out that as an attorney the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

“One of my positions and platforms when running for judge is that I know what it’s like,” Brimhall said. “And I tell my clients when they come in, cause I did a lot of family law and divorces, they would sit down and I would say listen I’m probably one of the few attorneys in town that knows what emotions you’re going through. It’s stressful. It’s emotional. Because I’ve been there, I’ve fought in court over my own kid and got divorced. Not many attorneys know what that feeling is like. You can say you empathize with somebody but until you’ve done that, you have no idea. And I ran with that while I was campaigning. I guess now it comes full circle.”

“I was a prosecutor for almost four years but now, I truly know what the defendant in a criminal case feels like. It is the absolute worst feeling in the world. The unknown. The not knowing. The wanting to tell your side or get the side out that needs to be heard but then you can’t. You’ve got court coming up and you don’t want to say anything that can be used against you. There’s so many aspects and I’m very thankful that I have family and friends and faith. Because without that, I feel absolutely sad for the people who have nobody. Because it is a deep dark place emotionally, mentally, but now I’ve experienced that side as well. Which, I believe, makes me even more qualified to be a judge. Because I know what it is like now, in the real world, what all sides of the coin entail.”

What happened on May 3?

Brimhall said his wife drove them home from the Jonesboro County Club around 10:30 p.m. on May 3. He said he was laughing with his stepdaughters downstairs, and having a good time. As Brimhall described it, the step-daughters go to tell the victim and she doesn’t want to come downstairs. Brimhall claims she always likes being told when he’s home to go to bed. He goes upstairs and has his water. Brimhall said the headlines of him drunk and in his underwear getting in his daughter’s bed has been one of the most upsetting things. He believes he was painted out to look like a “sexual deviant.” He said he was in his golf clothes and he didn’t lay in her bed – he sat on the side.

He said he told her he loved her and “Wham! Get off me!” Brimhall said, indicating that she hit him. “Once again, can’t win for losing.” So, in his words, Brimhall sprinkled some water on her, but “just a little sprinkle.” That set her off more. Brimhall described that she said things and he said things.

“I do regret things I said to her, very much so,” Brimhall said. “Um. I did call her a fucking bitch. And then I proceeded to tell her some of the things that have been kind of building up over the last six months.”

Brimhall described what he perceives as background to the May 3 conflict. However, there have been questions as to the relevance of this. Is it relevant to a fight that there had been animosity brewing for months beforehand? Brimhall feels so. He tells the story of his daughter saying things no father wanted to hear, with examples like how she wanted to move out. The relationship between the two had degraded long before May 3 happened. That was just the night it boiled over.

Brimhall said he told her he couldn’t wait until she moved out. He said for six months, he walked on eggshells because of the “way she made it” at his home.

After Brimhall’s wife takes the juveniles and leaves the home, they return. Brimhall is outside and in his underwear, he said. He hid behind the mailbox because he saw a vehicle coming and didn’t know if he knew the driver. Once they got closer, he realized it was his wife and jumped out to joke around. He acted like she hit him with the vehicle and jumped on the hood of the SUV. His elbow hit where a rock had previously cracked the windshield and caused the crack to expand, he said.

His daughter got out of the vehicle and was furious, he said, leading to their physical altercation. Brimhall insisted that he never put his hands on his daughter’s throat. He said he went to grab her in a headlock like the one you would do if you were giving someone a noogie – but he pointed out he wasn’t trying to give her noogies.

Who was wrong that day? You or your daughter?

“I’m not going to say anybody was wrong,” Brimhall said. “Um. I wrote her a letter and I told her we may not agree on everything that happens but we can both agree that we could have handled it differently.”

Brimhall has not spoken to his daughter since the incident, but “not for lack of trying.” He became emotional when talking about the broken relationship with his daughter.

Brimhall did not see his wife taking the children and leaving, twice, as a sign he was in the wrong. He described her as an amazing wife and an amazing mother. One of her character traits, he said, was that she is a fixer. She thought it was for the best to separate everyone because of the hurtful things being said, Brimhall said.

We asked Brimhall about a separate reported incident where he allegedly tore her television off of the wall and smashed it on the ground. He said this was only partly true. Brimhall described an incident where she had done something she shouldn’t have “multiple times.” He said he thought the “shock and awe” approach would be appropriate. He took the television, which he described as being smaller, and tossed it off of the second-floor balcony.

Brimhall conceded that looking back, that was probably a bad idea.

What did the press get wrong?

Brimhall said probably his biggest qualm with the press and how this incident was reported was in all the hearsay. He said the conversation was peppered from the get-go with hearsay. He took issue with his daughter’s version of events being given more attention than the other witnesses. He also said he’s had to experience rumors and questions not just to himself, but to friends of his who are left defending him.

Attorney Jared Woodard said the public sometimes forgets that a probable cause affidavit is like a grand jury hearing where only one side is presented or told.

Woodard was one of several lawyers representing Brimhall, in addition to Bill Stanley, his law partner. Brimhall said many of the attorneys like Paul Ford and Randel Miller offered to represent him free and voluntarily because they believed in him and his case.

Brimhall said he and his team felt very strongly about his case, but it didn’t gain traction until the day before his motion and plea hearing.

Once again, court filings contained sensitive details about the juvenile victim in the case. The documents were not filed under seal. Brimhall said as part of the plea agreement, his legal team agreed to seal that. Other legal sources argue it could have been sealed to begin with and especially given previous accidents, was likely done on purpose to affect the victim. But Woodard argued that the default step is to not file it under seal unless you need to or it is protected information, or if the other side wants to discuss sealing it.

Both Brimhall and Woodard said nothing was filed in a way to shame the victim. Brimhall added that he didn’t want it filed. He didn’t want to go that route and he prayed about it and thought about it. He did not feel like, without filing the now-sealed court document, the prosecutor would consider his side. Because he did, Brimhall feels like the special prosecutor finally did consider his perspective, thus offering the better plea deal.

Jones told NEA Report he “obviously” felt it was appropriate “given what the facts would support at trial.” He said he concluded by reviewing the “very thorough and professional investigation by JPD” and evaluating it to the national prosecution standards. He also noted his decision was reached through many conversations with the victim.

Although Jones praised the JPD investigation, Brimhall did not. Brimhall pointed out that Detective Nicholas Dumond, the lead investigator on his case, had a conflict in that Brimhall had fired Dumond’s wife from his law firm sometime in the past. A law enforcement source said Dumond was unaware of the firing until it was brought up by Brimhall late in the investigation.

Brimhall also noted that he had tried to file a police report in a separate incident but was told that it would be a conflict for JPD to investigate. Brimhall suggested that a different standard was applied to him.

Part of Brimhall’s plea included the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program’s (JLAP) substance abuse services. On the plea paperwork, one of the conditions that the defendant is not to drink was marked out. Instead, a handwritten note was next to the condition that said: “not to drink in excess.” Brimhall said this was just his lawyer’s doing and not his attempt to get around the consequences of the program.

Brimhall could not say that he had drank to excess on May 3.

Letters and Calls to Step Aside

Brimhall took it personally when Prosecuting Attorney Sonia F. Hagood wrote a letter expressing her discomfort with him becoming a circuit judge. He said he had thought they had a good relationship before the letter, even though he was hired by the previous prosecutor, Keith Chrestman.

As Brimhall described it, he already had been surprised by Hagood once before. Brimhall said she expressed that she would be neutral in the race between Brimhall and Curis Walker but three months before the election, he learned Hagood’s husband was the biggest contributor to the Walker campaign.

Brimhall also mentioned that he had received word that it was leaked to the press he could resign or be fired as deputy prosecutor. No such leaks ever came to NEA Report or any other reporter of whom we are aware.

Brimhall said the letter from Carla Nadzam asking for him to step aside surprised him. He said he always thought they had a great relationship and he used to think the legal community had a solidarity to it.

In addition to the letters that have become publicly known, more letters have been written regarding Brimhall’s fitness to serve as judge. Brimhall said three judges have written letters that he shouldn’t be allowed to take the bench. Brimhall has been told he has brought a bad light to the bench but he doesn’t agree. He also said two judges have told him to focus on his practice instead.

He isn’t taking the advice.

Still, Brimhall could not answer when asked if he was going to be a judge.

As of the latest update, the Judicial Disciplinary and Disability Commission (JDDC) continues to review his case. Brimhall commented that the week after the incident, he notified the JDDC and the Office of Professional Conduct.

Brimhall noted a Hot Springs judge who left his child in the back of the vehicle in the summer heat, causing his death, was still allowed to remain eligible to judge. However, Brimhall noted unlike in other cases, he is a judge-elect and not sworn in, yet.

It has always been a dream and a passion for Brimhall to become a judge, he said. If the decision is left up to him, he will not step away from that dream.

“The last six months, I’ve grown so tremendously,” Brimhall said. “I’m very thankful to my family and my close friends because, without that, I don’t know if I could be sitting here today.”

Unless a decision is made disqualifying him from the bench, Brimhall plans to be sworn in as judge in January 2025.