Judge accused of slapping man

PRESTON, Idaho – A magistrate judge has been charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly slapping a handcuffed and distraught defendant in the face while telling him to “buck up.”

Franklin County Magistrate Eric Hunn, who was charged Monday, is accused of slapping 19-year-old Benjamin Hansen from three to five times Feb. 22 while Hansen, who was wearing a waist chain and handcuffs, was in Hunn’s chambers.

If convicted, Hunn could be sentenced to up to six months in jail and fined $1,000. Hunn was ordered by 6th District Judge Don Harding to appear in court in this southeastern Idaho town June 14, when Senior Judge James F. Judd will hear the case. The Idaho attorney general’s office is handling the prosecution of the case, at the request of the Preston City Council.

An affidavit filed by T. Michael Dillon, the attorney general’s chief criminal investigator, said Hansen was in Hunn’s courtroom for sentencing on charges of driving without privileges and underage drinking, and was expected to be arraigned on an unlawful entry charge.

During the hearing, members of Hansen’s family reportedly told the magistrate that Hansen was suicidal and had a drug problem. Meanwhile, Hansen became “distraught” in the courtroom, according to court records.

That’s when Hunn brought Hansen, defense attorney Don Marler, probation officer Guy Ebanez and county Prosecuting Attorney Todd Garbett into his chambers, Dillon wrote.

Hansen told Dillon, “He slapped me on the face like that a few times and said, ‘Buck up,’ you know, it’s a not a big deal.”

The slaps were described by witnesses as “pretty hard,” Dillon said. Garbett told the investigator that though Hansen had become emotional in the courtroom, he wasn’t sobbing or out of control.

“Hansen had not done anything to cause Judge Eric Hunn to slap him,” Garbett told Dillon.

Marler, however, told Dillon that he didn’t know whether his client was slapped.

“I don’t remember Judge Hunn slapping this young man,” Marler was quoted as saying. “I’m not sure that he did. … If he slapped him, it was, uh, it was nothing that was done maliciously, I can tell you that.”

Hunn, who has been a magistrate in Preston since 2002, took an indefinite leave from the bench Feb. 28 and could not be reached for comment.