Judge’s Wife Sought Safety From Violence

A Tacoma Municipal judge who was admonished more than a year ago for insensitivity in domestic violence cases is alleged to have physically abused his wife, court papers show.

The wife of Tacoma Municipal Court Judge Ralph Turco sought court protection from her husband last month, saying she had been subjected to repeated threats and physical and verbal abuse during their 38 years of marriage.

A temporary protective order was issued, but two days later an attorney for Adrian Turco, 64, the judge’s wife, had it dismissed.

She said in the court documents that the 63-year-old Turco, a judge for seven years, hit her in the face on one occasion, breaking her nose, and punched her in the back, sending her to the floor, on another. She added the incidents always included “threats of financial loss.”

“For me to step forward in relating these events took all of the courage I could muster,” Adrian Turco said in court papers filed Feb. 26 seeking protection from her husband.

Judge Turco on Friday told the Post-Intelligencer that information about the protection order “is incorrect,” but he did not elaborate.

He referred all questions to his attorney, who is on vacation until next week.

Adrian Turco’s attorney sought dismissal of the protective order so that the couple’s ongoing divorce action filed Jan. 24 could be handled without controversy, said Norman Margullis, Adrian’s attorney.

Court records, police domestic violence reports and other documents used when Adrian Turco was seeking the protective order have been turned over to the Kitsap County prosecutor’s office for review, Pierce County and Tacoma police authorities said.

Shortly after his wife’s allegations surfaced last month, Tacoma City Attorney Robin Jenkinson asked Turco to remove himself from an unrelated domestic violence case he was about to hear.

Jenkinson said she did not believe Turco could be fair and impartial in the case. Turco heard the case but put off action until Sept. 8.

In December 1995, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct admonished Turco for making insensitive remarks in domestic violence cases.