Ex-Judge, Once Wed To 2 At A Time, Disbarred

SALEM, Ore. - A former judge who admitted being married to two women at the same time was disbarred yesterday by the Oregon Supreme Court.

The court said Robert L. Kirkman of Portland committed forgery in addition to bigamy, and made false official statements.

"The misconduct of which we have found the accused guilty is so serious that, in the absence of compelling mitigating circumstances, disbarment is the only appropriate sanction," the Supreme Court said in the unanimous ruling.

Kirkman, 49, wasn't prosecuted on criminal charges because the statute of limitations has expired.

He was a Portland attorney when he became a Multnomah County District Court judge in December 1984.

He had been married to Susan Kirkman since 1967, and they had four children.

A PHONY DIVORCE DECREE

Kirkman became involved with Jane Kingsbury and has admitted he showed her a phony decree in 1984 supposedly establishing that he was divorced from his first wife.

He committed forgery either himself or by causing someone else to forge another judge's name on the bogus decree, the Supreme Court said.

He then committed unsworn falsification by wrongly stating he was divorced when he obtained a marriage license and wed Kingsbury in 1987.

Kingsbury later found out Kirkman wasn't divorced, and her marriage to him was annulled.

He then obtained a divorce from Susan Kirkman in late 1987 and legally married Kingsbury.

Kirkman resigned from the bench in January 1991.

He violated Oregon State Bar ethics rules against dishonest conduct, the Supreme Court said.

`NOT VICTIMLESS CRIMES'

"These were not victimless crimes," the court said. "The accused's duplicity existed over a period of years, causing injury and humiliation to both of his families.

"His conduct brought contempt upon the legal profession and upon the courts, undermining public confidence in bench and bar alike," the court said.

The court said mitigating factors included that Kirkman had no prior disciplinary record, had personal problems and disclosed his misdeeds.

But those largely were offset by aggravating circumstances, the court said, including multiple offenses and a pattern of misconduct.

"Because the accused's misconduct is so great, because the nature of the misconduct is so destructive of truth and honesty, because public confidence in the integrity of the legal profession is so important and because appropriate discipline deters unethical conduct, we conclude that the accused must be disbarred," the court said.