District Judge William R. Woods will not serve on the bench until an investigation into his conduct since an electoral defeat by the Judicial Conduct Commission is complete. Woods agreed to refrain from any judicial activities. The brief agreement allows Woods to keep receiving his pay and does not amount to any admission of wrongdoing. Woods was reassigned after a Nov. 12 incident in which he tried to have Elliott County Sheriff Ronald Stephens and two deputies arrested for contempt of court. Woods said last week it was a set-up engineered by the sheriff in an attempt to have him removed from the bench. More recently, a Morgan County deputy clerk said Woods brought a holstered pistol to court in Morgan County two days before the Sandy Hook incident. The district also includes Carter County. It is not illegal in Kentucky for judges to bring firearms into courtrooms, but the states chief justice this week said such an act would be both extraordinary and disturbing. He just brought it in and placed it on the bench, deputy clerk Donna Pelfrey said. No one said anything. It was in a tan-colored holster. It was unclear why Woods felt it necessary to arm himself in court. Woods, who took office in 1987, did not return telephone messages left at his home and office. The court dates in Morgan County on Nov. 9 and 10 were two days before the incident in Elliott County — and a week after Woods lost an election to longtime circuit Judge Sam Long. Public defender Stuart Read of Morehead was in court both days, but declined to say whether he saw a pistol. I heard other people say they saw it, Read said. Both West Liberty lawyer Tom Davis, who was in court on Nov. 9, and Read said they considered Woods to be a patient, competent judge before the Elliott County incident, which Read described as a scary mess. I dont know if the election got the best of him that day or what, Davis said. Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Lambert said the high court has never adopted a rule on judges carrying guns in the courtroom because it had never been an issue. But Lambert said he had heard Woods had a gun in court and called the report disturbing. I would regard a judge having a gun in the courtroom as being an extraordinary circumstance that would be generally undesirable, he said. Following his actions in the Sandy Hook courtroom, Woods was reassigned to inactive duty in Johnson County while Morgan, Elliott and Carter counties have been assigned to other judges.