Brian Lovell Removed

Brian Lovell, a Garfield County, Oklahoma Associate Judge, resigned on September 9, 2024, as a removal trial loomed, citing a recent diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia. Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice M. John Kane IV had filed a removal petition against Lovell in June 2024 alleging ex parte communications with attorneys appearing before him, disparaging remarks about attorneys, publicly evidencing bias for a particular attorney, and setting bond amounts based on bias toward defendants or their attorneys. The petition also alleged Lovell engaged in sexual acts with two bailiffs of another judge inside the courthouse during work hours, and exchanged sexually explicit texts and images with one of the bailiffs, also during work hours. Lovell's resignation made the removal case moot, but he separately faces criminal charges in both Garfield County, Oklahoma and Travis County, Texas, over unrelated incidents involving the unlawful discharge of a firearm — reported as drive-by shootings in two states.