Lincoln County Circuit Judge Christina Kunza Mennemeyer will be off the bench for six months - without pay - beginning Feb. 1.
The Missouri Supreme Court ordered the disciplinary action Tuesday, accepting a recommendation from the Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline of judges.
St. Louis lawyer Jim Smith, who directs the commission operations, told the News Tribune the latest ruling brings high court disciplinary actions for judges to "a dozen or so cases over the years that are reported with the Supreme Court Clerk."
Mennemeyer's discipline recommendation followed a commission hearing on a November 2014 complaint from then-State Public Defender Cathy Kelly that Mennemeyer had a "judicial practice of deliberately postponing the appointment of counsel to indigent defendants in probation violation cases until after the time period for disqualification of the judge has passed."
Kelly's complaint said Mennemeyer's "stated and overt reason" for the delays was "preventing the public defender from disqualifying her."
Court rules allow either party in a case to disqualify a judge, without having to give a reason.
But there is a time limit for that motion, and the public defenders' complaint was Mennemeyer delayed appointing public defender lawyers for more than 60 days, when she didn't make similar delays in cases where the defendant could not ask for a change of judge.
Part of the dispute involved an interpretation of state law, with Mennemeyer saying she was required to appoint the defenders - to represent indigent defendants in cases involving probation violations - before the attorneys could begin working in those cases.
Mennemeyer, a Republican, was elected in November 2012 for a six-year term to serve the circuit in Lincoln and Pike counties.
The dispute began in 2013, shortly after Mennemeyer became a judge.
Even before Kelly's formal complaint was made to the commission, the Supreme Court ruled, Mennemeyer sent an email to the public defenders' office, saying: "I will be filing bar complaints on any attorney who purports to represent a client without proper authority."
Kelly asked for a meeting to resolve the dispute, the high court noted in its opinion.
However, the Supreme Court added, Mennemeyer refused the request, calling the suggestion "presumptuous" and "a joke."
Within weeks of Kelly's formal complaint to the Commission on Retirement, Discipline and Removal, Mennemeyer filed a complaint with the state Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, which considers discipline recommendations for attorneys, but not judges.
The judicial discipline commission found no legal reason for Mennemeyer's delays in appointing public defenders in the probation cases, and her filing an ethics complaint against a public defender appeared to be retaliation for the formal complaint.
The commission recommended the six-month suspension, which the Supreme Court ordered.
During her six-month suspension, the high court can appoint other judges to handle Mennemeyer's case load.