Former Nome Judge Romano DiBenedetto to be disciplined

By Diana Haecker The Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct is convening a special meeting next week to make public the commission’s recommendation to the Supreme Court for discipline in the case of former Nome Superior Court Judge Romano DiBenedetto. DiBenedetto resigned in April after having been on administrative leave since March 2025 as he was under investigation for undermining public trust and breaking judicial ethics canon in a pattern of behavior. The Alaska Court System placed DiBenedetto on leave after court staff reported behavior including incidents when the judge used offensive accents to impersonate people from other ethnic groups and kept a courtroom of people waiting while he watched a sports game on TV. More allegations followed, prompting the commission to file a new complaint against DiBenedetto, as the body had become aware that DiBenedetto lied to investigators when confronted with the accusation of a Facebook friendship he allegedly had with female sex workers.

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