Judicial conduct commission to announce discipline recommendation for former Nome judge Nov. 17

The Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct will announce Nov. 17 what discipline it recommends for former Nome Superior Court Judge Romano DiBenedetto, according to a state notice. The commission alleges that while he was a judge, his public Facebook account identified him with the court and showed apparent links to sexually suggestive content, and his personal phone number had contact with two numbers that records associate with online commercial sex ads.

The notice for the special meeting doesn't say what the commission will recommend or whether the recommendation is a settlement. It cites the commission's settlement rule, under which a settlement must be presented publicly and takes effect only if the Alaska Supreme Court approves it.

The commission's amended complaint, filed Oct. 15, brings three counts. The phone contacts were identified through separate criminal investigations and search warrant records, but the commission says it does not allege DiBenedetto was the subject or target of those investigations or that the contacts alone establish criminal conduct. It says they created a serious appearance of impropriety. It also says his answers to a 2023 commission inquiry about his Facebook page "lacked completeness and candor." He denied knowing about the material then, and the commission closed that file. He told the commission he deleted the account in May.

The October complaint replaced one filed in April. That version said a state analyst recognized DiBenedetto's name from two closed sex trafficking investigations, in which his number appeared once each in calls of about 20 seconds, and that he "intentionally deceived the Commission." The amended complaint doesn't repeat those statements.

It's his second discipline case. In January, he admitted that a 2024 after-hours hearing in Unalakleet was delayed nearly an hour because he was watching a televised sporting event. He also admitted impersonating people who had appeared in his courtroom, including Alaska Natives and a Vietnamese police officer, in front of court staff outside the courtroom, and said he takes responsibility. The commission recommended a public reprimand. In April, it asked the Supreme Court to hold off, saying it had learned of previously unreported facts that might affect its recommendation, according to an Oct. 15 status report.

Gov. Bill Walker appointed DiBenedetto in 2017. Nome's only superior court seat has been empty since he left, and the Judicial Council is trying again to fill it.