Jesse Scheckner
Another Broward County Judge is in hot water.
Judge Lauren Peffer, who won election to the Broward bench in August, is being accused of spreading misinformation while on the campaign trail last year.
In a document filed with the Florida Supreme Court, the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) said Peffer, 39, exercised “a complete lack of due diligence” by sharing deepfake audio and touting an unread e-book while seeking office.
The JQC cited South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporting about how Peffer repeatedly referenced a self-published e-book by a resentful former employee of the 9th Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties, as proof that public trust in the court was failing.
The Commission said Peffer later admitted to not reading the book, which criticizes numerous Judges and is “full of gratuitous profanity (and) begins with a disclaimer and a list of over 1,300 synonyms for the word ‘sex.’”
When Sentinel reporter Rafael Olmeda asked why the book had made little to no impact since its 2023 publication, Peffer gave him a link that appeared on the book’s website to what was supposedly a phone call between Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz, Florida Supreme Court Justice Renatha Francis and 9th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lisa Munyon.
Olmeda, who first reported on the JQC’s filing Friday, noted in July 2024 that legal experts said the so-called recording captured “a conversation so legally questionable that its authenticity should have been suspected immediately.”
The JQC included an excerpt from the artificial intelligence-generated recording in its seven-page filing.
In that excerpt, Munyon supposedly said of former 9th Circuit Chief Judge Belvin Perry, a frequent target of the e-book: “If I can speak frankly, I sincerely believe that Belvin’s first love is power, then money, then White women. I’m not trying to be glib, but my guess is if Belvin could have a perfect death he would be buried under the Lincoln Memorial next to Clarence Thomas in a solid gold coffin and have a live White hooker buried with him as a sacrifice.”
Francis, Muñiz, and Munyon all said the recording was fake. The Sentinel reported last year that it and several other alleged fakes were referred to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for a criminal investigation.
The JQC said Peffer later admitted she hadn’t listened to the entire recording and didn’t speak with any of the current or former Judges about it or the book referenced before promoting the highly questionable materials.
“Your campaign theme was to restore the public’s trust, but your behavior did the opposite and brought harm to the dignity and integrity of the judiciary,” the panel said. “Rather than promote public confidence in the judiciary, your actions eroded public confidence by perpetuating a false perception of illegal, unethical, or immoral conduct by the Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, a Chief Judge, and others working within the judicial branch.”
The JQC said Peffer’s actions violated Canons 7A(3)(b) and 7A(3)(e) of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct, which concern proper conduct by candidates for judicial office and prohibit “knowingly misrepresenting the identity, qualifications, present position or other facts concerning the candidate or an opponent.”
Peffer said in a statement to Law.com that she referenced the book and shared the AI recording only to demonstrate how important it is for the judiciary to “hold itself to the highest moral standard.”
“While unintentional, I take responsibility for my actions and apologize for the unfortunate effect the reference may have caused my fellow judiciary members.”
The JQC’s notice came two days after Broward Circuit Judge Gary Farmer demanded a trial over charges the Commission filed in April, accusing him of acting so inappropriately from the bench that he should be suspended.
Farmer’s comments and actions earned him a reassignment from the court’s criminal division to its civil court in September. Olmeda was first to flag the move.
Peffer, who took 52.5% of the vote Aug. 20, has until May 29 to respond to the JQC’s notice.
