Brookside judge agrees not to serve on bench again, as Alabama closes investigation

The state of Alabama closed an investigation into Jim Wooten, the man who presided over traffic court in the troubled town of Brookside, after he agreed never to serve as a judge again.

The Judicial Inquiry Commission, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by judges in Alabama, revealed today that it conducted an investigation into Wooten’s work in Brookside.

“Given Former Judge Wooten’s resignation as Municipal Judge coupled with the suspension of his law license and further affirmation to the Commission that he would neither seek nor accept any further judicial position, the Commission has concluded that no further proceedings before the Commission are warranted in this matter and has terminated its investigation into the allegations against Former Judge Wooten,” the commission said in a press release today.

Wooten did not respond to a request for comment from AL.com on Tuesday afternoon.

The commission opened the inquiry in February of 2022 after receiving a verified complaint about his “running, management, and handling of Brookside’s Municipal Court.”

That complaint came shortly after AL.com published an investigation detailing how Brookside officers bullied drivers and packed the town’s small courtroom while using newfound money from fines and forfeitures to expand the police force.

Wooten was one of three key figures in the prosecution of drivers in Brookside. The others were Mark Parnell, the town attorney and prosecutor, and Mike Jones, who resigned as the police chief less than a week after the AL.com investigation published.

From 2018-2020, revenue from fines and forfeitures soared 640 percent in Brookside, coming to account for half the town’s income. Home to 1,253 people just north of Birmingham, Brookside became a national example of policing for profit.

Wooten, who had been the town’s traffic court judge since 2009, resigned in December of 2022, just a week before the Alabama Supreme Court suspended his law license.

The state supreme court handed down the suspension as a result of an unrelated investigation by the Alabama State Bar. The bar’s disciplinary commission looked into allegations that Wooten “improperly advanced himself fees” from a family member’s inheritance when she was a child and found that he violated the rules of professional conduct for lawyers.

Wooten, a Birmingham attorney, became the administrator of his late brother’s estate in 2006 when his niece was seven years old. In 2020, Wooten’s niece filed a lawsuit alleging that her “Uncle Jim” distributed more than $200,000 of her inheritance to his personal and business accounts.

“Wooten admitted that while the estate remained open, he improperly advanced himself fees from the estate without seeking permission from the probate court,” according to records from the state bar’s disciplinary commission. “Despite the fact the fees had not been earned, Wooten failed to place the funds in trust. Wooten also did not disclose to the family that he had taken the fees.”

Wooten previously denied any wrongdoing and told AL.com last year that he was paid an average of $16,200 annually. “By law, I was entitled to be paid from the estate for my services,” he said in a statement to AL.com at the time.

Wooten’s niece filed the bar complaint against her uncle in 2020, the same year she sued him.

Wooten settled the lawsuit, according to court records, and repaid the money he had withdrawn from the estate.

In its news release today, the Judicial Inquiry Commission said,

“To the extent future issues may be presented to the Commission in a verified complaint as concerns the operation of the Brookside Municipal Court, the Commission will take appropriate action.”

Read more from our Banking on Crime series:

• Inside the remarkable rise and fall of Alabama’s most predatory police force
• Inside Alabama’s worst speed traps
• Where are the 20 worst speed traps in Alabama?
• Pastor, sister say rogue Alabama police force sought revenge