New Judge Censured

A press release issued today by the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct reports that a part-time town court judge was censured for reducing speeding charges in five cases without consent of the prosecutor and reduced another speeding charge based on an ex parte discussion with a co-worker (the judge works in a dairy) who was a friend of the defendant. While ticket-fixing might otherwise merit removal from the bench, the judge was new to the job and “erroneously believed that it was his responsibility to negotiate pleas as a way of disposing of contested traffic charges.”

The commission’s opinion is linked here. (Mike Frisch)