Dan Jack Combs

Dan Jack Combs (August 22, 1924 – May 25, 2002) was a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 1983 to 1989 and justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court from 1989 to 1993.

Combs rose to national prominence by successfully defending Appalachian Volunteers Margaret and Alan McSurely against charges of sedition in a case that took 15 years to fully adjudicate. After a long legal career, Combs unseated incumbent Elijah M. Hogge for a seat on the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In 1989, he challenged incumbent James B. Stephenson for his seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court. During the campaign, he attacked some of Stephenson's previous opinions in violation of a state judicial code that forbade judicial candidates from stating opinions related to cases they might later be asked to rule on. After the election, which Combs won, he was suspended for three months for violating the code, but the suspension was not carried out because Combs appealed the constitutionality of the code and eventually succeeded in overturning it.

Throughout his tenure on the court, Combs was known as being sympathetic to unpopular litigants and causes. He retired from the court in 1993, citing ill health stemming from a motorcycle accident and two strokes. In retirement, he was twice arrested on marijuana-related charges. He admitted using the drug medicinally to help with insomnia and became an advocate for its legalization. He died at home on May 25, 2002.

Early life and family Combs was born August 22, 1924, in Floyd County, Kentucky, to Albert Ghent and Hettie Gilliam Combs. His father worked in the coal mines and was killed in a rockfall, leaving his mother to raise him and his four siblings.

Combs served in the United States Naval Air Corps during World War II and was discharged in 1947. After helping combat flooding near the town on Betsy Layne, Combs and some friends purchased a bottle of whisky before returning home. He received his juris doctor degree from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in 1969. They divorced in May 1973. On August 11, 1967, Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Ratliff and sheriff's deputies raided the couple's home in Pike County and arrested them on charges of sedition.

Combs held that the state's sedition law was unconstitutional and petitioned the federal judiciary to overturn it. Combs said he had reached an agreement with Ratliff not to seek indictments for the McSurelys until the constitutionality of the sedition law was settled; however, Judge James B. Stephenson instructed the grand jury that the federal government could not stop them from investigating and returning an indictment.

Judicial career After 32 years in private practice, Combs was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1983, defeating incumbent Elijah M. Hogge by almost 4,000 votes. He served until 1988, when he was elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court over incumbent James B. Stephenson. Stephens denied any political motive, saying the trip was part of a public education campaign that began in 1986 with trips to Louisville, Owensboro, and Paducah. Stephenson declined, citing a state judicial code forbidding candidates for judicial offices to discuss positions on issues that might come before them if elected. Following an investigation, the Kentucky Judicial Retirement and Removal Commission ordered him suspended from the bench for three months without pay for violating the code in February 1990. Combs appealed on grounds that the code abridged his First Amendment right to free speech. During his tenure, he was known as "the conscience" of the court. He was treated for multiple injuries at Pikeville Methodist Hospital, but released the same night. He participated in psychiatric therapy, including shock therapy, to treat his condition, but his psychiatrist opined that the depression was a permanent condition. He said he had experienced a stroke 10 months previous, and tests showed that he had since experienced a second. The strokes worsened his memory condition.

Legal issues and marijuana advocacy On December 29, 1994, Combs filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection. He reported $132,346 in debts, including $20,000 in credit-card debt and $10,000 in delinquent mortgage payments on his $150,000 house. Combs accused police of planting evidence to support their charge and initially denied that he had ever used marijuana. He later admitted to using the drug to help with insomnia, but maintained he had only been using it since retiring from the Supreme Court in 1993. Combs later blamed his inconsistency on his Alzheimer's-like memory disorder that made it difficult for him to remember details like when he began smoking marijuana. The case made him a celebrity among advocates for the legalization of cannabis, and he was interviewed by High Times magazine. He said he opposed the federal ban on medicinal marijuana: "Are we constitutionally bound to be in a state of depression, or may we alleviate that by resorting to natural foods, nature's foods—God's foods?" District Judge James Allen confined Combs' younger son to the Floyd County Juvenile Detention Center on grounds that he was a danger to himself and others. The elder Combs had his son placed on suicide watch and maintained that the incidents, including Allen's decision to detain his son, were part of a political vendetta against him and his family. The charge was dropped in February 1997 on the condition that Combs forfeit the $500 he posted as bond. He was buried in a family cemetery.