Retired magistrate faces discipline for swinger site photos

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A former Russell County magistrate faces discipline this week for sharing nude photos of himself on a website that’s described as an online community for swingers.

Marty K. Clark, who retired May 1 after 23 years, is set to appear before the state Supreme Court on Thursday after it was concluded that he violated two rules of judicial conduct when he was still on the bench.

The Judicial Conduct Commission recommends Clark – who won the Lee Nusser Award for outstanding magistrate of 2020 – should be disciplined by public censure.

Marty Clark

A lawyer for Clark, appointed by former Republican Gov. Bill Graves in 1998, declined comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Court records show that Clark had an account with C4P.com – short for “Club Foreplay” – on and off for a couple of years.

The records show that Clark had used the website to share nude and partially nude photos of himself, including one with him standing in water with his penis visible.

The site is used for making connections to swap partners for sexual encounters, court records show.

The records show that Clark and his wife maintained the C4P account using a ZIP code for Osage Beach, Missouri.

Neither Clark nor his wife used their real names for the account as instructed by the website. Neither Clark nor his wife subscribe to the website any longer.

The complaint against Clark was brought by the husband of a woman with whom Clark had shared sexually revealing pictures of himself.

Clark had first met the couple at the Lake of the Ozarks in the late spring of 2019. He and his wife had mutual friends with the couple.

After meeting at the lake, Clark continued communicating with the woman by text message and email where they talked about their mutual attraction and the possibility of having sexual relations.

Clark sent sexually revealing pictures of himself to the woman. He also requested that she send pictures to him as well.

The complaint alleged that Clark and the woman had talked about having sex in the magistrate’s chamber. They never had sex in the magistrate’s offices, records show.

Clark’s retirement was announced April 30, just four days before the Judicial Conduct Commission made its recommendation.

The commission found that Clark violated a judicial rule requiring a judge to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.

It also found that he violated a rule that bars judges from participating in activities that would appear to a reasonable person to undermine the judge’s independence, integrity or impartiality or demean the judicial office.

“Judges are human. But the unique role of judges in our society forces a judge to understand that donning black robe places a higher standard upon them than the average person,” the Judicial Conduct Commission said in its ruling.

“That higher standard imposes a duty to maintain the dignity of the judicial office and to aspire to ensure the greatest public confidence in their integrity as they uphold the laws and make sure justice is meted out fairly.

“That is where the respondent has failed,” the commission said.

Clark had been Kansas CASA Judge of the Year in 1989 and nominated twice for the National CASA Judge of the Year.

Clark is a Smith Center native and graduated from Fort Hays State University in 1989 with a degree in sociology and an emphasis in criminal justice.