LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Hours after a judge ordered a new trial in a dispute about a $1 million lottery ticket, lawyers for the Arkansas woman who plucked the ticket from the trash said they want the judge to take himself off the case.
Sharon Jones' attorneys said in paperwork filed late Thursday that Judge Thomas Hughes was biased when he decided that the prize money belonged to another woman instead of Jones.
"The (judge) has provided evidence that he had bias and was incapable of making an impartial determination in this case ..." Jones' attorneys wrote.
Hughes didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Jones grabbed the winning scratch-off ticket from the trash last year and claimed the jackpot. Hughes decided earlier this month that Sharon Duncan, who claims to have bought the ticket, is entitled to the money instead. But then on Thursday he ordered a new trial, saying simply that his decision came after "reviewing the actions of counsel appearing in this case, the court file and the record."
Jones' attorneys explained in the court documents filed Thursday that they had sent the judge a letter last week asking him to rescue himself from the case so they could avoid filing a formal request for him to do so. The judge ordered the letter to be kept out of the public record, Jones' attorneys wrote.
Jones' lawyers said that letter spelled out that all future communication about the case should either be on the record or in writing. Instead, Jones' attorneys said, the judge called one of the lawyers on his cellphone.
"The (judge) stated that he had no problem recusing and would recuse from the case and that he had suffered damage to his vehicle, insinuating that the Defendant or someone on their behalf may have had something to do with this," Jones' lawyers wrote.
Duncan said she purchased the "Diamond Dazzler" ticket at a convenience store in Beebe, about 35 miles northeast of Little Rock. She said the store's electronic scanner indicated she was not a winner, so she discarded the ticket. Jones subsequently picked up the ticket and claimed the winnings for herself.
The state's Lottery Commission has defended the machine and says its equipment functions properly. The store's manager and owner sued Jones, claiming she illegally took the ticket from the bin. Duncan joined the lawsuit after the judge determined she may be the true owner of the ticket.
Neither Jones' attorneys nor Duncan's lawyers returned phone messages left Friday.
One of Jones' lawyers, Winston Collier, said Thursday he was confused about the judge's reason for ordering a new trial but pleased with the result. Collier said he had planned on requesting a new trial.
The Joneses said earlier this month that they had about $490,000 remaining from the $680,000 they received, after taxes, in the jackpot. They said that aside from buying a pickup truck, they gave tens of thousands of dollars to their children and thousands more to a relative who has a child with Down syndrome.
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