BATON ROUGE - Another East Baton Rouge justice of the peace is the latest subject of a judiciary commission investigation into possible misconduct.

Mark Miley, who has been in the position since 2009, will now have to prove to the commission that he should keep his job.

He is the second justice of the peace in Baton Rouge facing a hearing in front of the Judiciary Commission. Tracy Batieste was temporarily removed from her position in June.

According to the commission's report, the investigation found Miley violated several judicial conduct cannons, engaged in willful misconduct and "persistent public conduct that brings the judicial office into disrepute."

In East Baton Rouge Parish, there are six justices of the peace. Each of them has constables that serve under them.

They are mostly responsible for settling small-claims disputes and evictions, for which they receive a fee that supplements their salaries. Their base salaries average around $5,000 per year.

Terrica Williams is the constable for the city of Baton Rouge, but works for the judges in city court rather than a justice of the peace.

"They are all responsible for the particular area that they work in," Williams said. 

The commission claims Miley intentionally presided over evictions outside of his Ward 3 District 1 jurisdiction.

"If they're out of their area doing certain work that should be done in a particular area, I would assume that it would take money from the (other) person."

The WBRZ Investigative Unit pulled the EBR justices of the peace financial reports for last year.

In 2024, Miley reported he brought in more than $489,000 in court fees. After paying his constable and clerk, he took home over $220,000.

While those court fees are much higher than most of the other justices of the peace, it's slightly less than Larry Spencer and drastically less than Steven Sanders, who collected over $750,000 in court fees.

Sanders took home just shy of $300,000 for himself. Spencer's compensation was around $132,000.  

Here are the total court fees reported for 2024 from each justice of the peace:
Lynda Austin - $1,720
Brooke Peay - $6,465
Tracy Batieste - $120,243
Mark Miley - $489,654
Larry Spencer - $495,188
Steven Sanders - $753,739

The commission also said that Miley knew he didn't have jurisdiction over these cases because when a defendant did bring it up, he would grant the objection.

Williams says it's unlikely for a plaintiff to ask about that.

"The average person thinks you're law enforcement, and you're showing up at my house, then you're showing up with good intentions."

Miley nor his attorneys called WBRZ back, his response filed in court claims he has the power to evict anyone regardless of jurisdiction and that he is not required to raise the objection.

His hearing is March 5 and 6.