FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A letter sent to the Judicial Qualifications Commission from the Fort Lauderdale chapter of the NAACP demands that a Broward County judge be removed from the bench amid allegations that he was smoking marijuana in a Hollywood park Sunday.

Marsha A. Ellison, president of the Fort Lauderdale branch of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wrote the letter March 20 to Brooke Kennerly, executive director of the commission in Tallahassee. In the letter, Ellison states that the area in which Korda was allegedly smoking the illegal substance was a "drug-free zone with children nearby" and that the judge was "undeserving" of his position.

The letter reads:

"In light of Broward Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Korda being charged with possession and usage of marijuana on Sunday, March 18, 2007, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) demands his removal from the 17th Judicial Circuit. The revelation that Judge Korda chose to openly use an illegal substance in a drug-free zone with children nearby clearly shows he is undeserving of this important position.

The NAACP finds this behavior disturbing and unacceptable. No judge should violate the laws we all share."

Korda, who was part of the Anna Nicole Smith proceedings, was in Stanley Goldman Park near Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday at about 2 p.m. when police patrolling the park smelled marijuana, followed the scent and found him seated on a bench, police said.

Korda, 59, was not arrested but was issued a notice to appear in court and faces a charge of marijuana possession, according to police.

When asked by a Local 10 reporter about the allegations, Korda said Tuesday that it would be inappropriate to make a comment.

Korda made national news during the Smith case in South Florida when he was assigned to hear pleas from lawyers for Larry Birkhead, an ex-boyfriend of Smith who claims to be the biological father of Smith's baby, Dannielynn. Korda dismissed the paternity action.

The hearing date for the judge, who lives in Hollywood, has been set for April 26.