BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A state district judge has been suspended without pay for 30 days for accepting an all-expense-paid trip from a Texas attorney whose client was awarded a $1.2 million settlement in a personal injury lawsuit tried in the judge's court.

The Advocate reports that the suspension of District Judge J. Robin Free was approved in a decree handed down on Tuesday by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Free is a judge in the judicial district that covers the parishes of West Baton Rouge, Iberville and Pointe Coupee.

The court, on the recommendation of the state's Judiciary Commission, also directed Free to reimburse the commission for $6,724 for costs in the investigation against him.

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