The Commission on Judicial Qualifications found in July that Sedgwick County District Judge Timothy Henderson “engaged in harassment as well as gender bias by making repeated inappropriate and offensive comments in the presence of female attorneys employed by the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.”

The panel also faulted Henderson for sending a biased email to the state Department for Children and Families over a Wichita attorney, saying his email showed “a negative stereotype and/or a hostility.”

The state panel helps the Kansas Supreme Court in judicial disciplinary matters. It is recommending Henderson’s punishment be a public reprimand by the state’s highest court. It’s not clear when the court will decide.

Henderson’s attorney, Thomas Haney, told the Wichita Eagle the judge is not admitting to the state panel’s findings.

“The judge wants to get back to judging,” Haney said. “The allegations were all alleged comments made off the bench, and none of them had anything to do with a pending case or anything before the judge.”

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett filed the harassment complaint against Henderson. He said Tuesday his office is “respectfully awaiting” the court’s decision on Henderson.

Henderson was reassigned from the juvenile court to the civil court department in May.