Body Heat
The New York Commission on Judicial Conduct has censured a non-attorney town court justice
Charge I of the Complaint alleged that from November 2022 to March 2024, while presiding over People v Jesse R. Bender, respondent engaged in prohibited ex parte communications, made rude and discourteous comments, and otherwise acted inappropriately, in that he:
A. Spoke with the prosecutor, outside the presence of the defendant and his attorney, concerning (i) the defendant’s motion to modify an Order of Protection and (ii) the defendant’s reputation and criminal history;
B. Initiated a conversation with the superintendent of the defendant’s son’s school, outside the presence of the defendant and the attorneys, concerning the merits of the defendant’s motion, which he later denied based in part upon information he learned during the conversation; and
C. Engaged in an undignified, discourteous, and otherwise inappropriate exchange, on-the-record, with the defendant and the mother of the defendant’s son, when they came to court to pay a fine, during which Respondent inter alia used profanity, baselessly accused the mother of having “perjured” herself about her marital status, and discussed the evidence presented at the defendant’s jury trial as well as the evidence the judge thought should have been presented on the defendant’s behalf.
Charge II alleged that on January 18, 2023, between presiding over court proceedings but while the court’s audio recording system was running, respondent used profanity and baselessly insinuated to an attorney appearing before him that a town justice in another court, who had presided over a zoning ordinance violation filed against respondent, had been in a romantic affair with the zoning/code enforcement officer who issued the violation.
Charge I profanity
At one point during a lengthy and at times heated discussion about the court correcting the error [concerning an acquitted charge], respondent said to [defendant] Mr. Bender, “Well, yelling at me isn’t good either, okay? That doesn’t make me want to do shit for you, okay?”
At another point during the March 6 appearance, respondent engaged Mr. Bender in a discussion about the proof that was and was not presented at his jury trial. When Mr. Bender mentioned that Ms. Price’s neck had been broken during the altercation with the Howies, respondent replied that no evidence of such an injury had been presented at the trial and questioned why Mr. Bender and Ms. Price had not presented any medical evidence or witnesses in support of it. With respect to calling medical experts as witnesses to authenticate medical documents, respondent stated, “Oh, shit. If you told– if that was submitted, I would– they would have been subpoenaed.” When Ms. Price said the prosecution had copies of their medical evidence, respondent replied it was Mr. Riendeau’s responsibility to have offered that evidence at the trial, not the prosecutor’s. Respondent stated, “That trial was tough on you, I’ll tell you. . . . [P]eople think . . . I’m an ass– I’m an asshole for putting people in jail. And . . . you think I enjoy that . . . Well, I’ll tell you. If you think I enjoy that, you need to go back and get an education then, okay?”
Charge II details
On September 21, 2021, respondent appeared in the Theresa Town Court before Theresa Town Justice Rachel A. Roberts. Respondent was represented by Steven G. Ballan. Mr. McKeever was also present. Amid heated exchanges between Mr. Ballan and Mr. McKeever, Judge Roberts granted Mr. Ballan’s request for a 45-day adjournment. The case was subsequently transferred to the Philadelphia Town Court and, in December 2021, following a motion to dismiss by Mr. Ballan, and on consent of the legal representative of the Town of Theresa, the charge was dismissed.
On January 18, 2023, in the Rossie Town Court, in between presiding over court proceedings, respondent conversed with attorney John Hallett, who also practices law in the Theresa Town Court before Judge Roberts. The court’s audio recording system was running. After Mr. Hallett said he had resolved an unidentified zoning matter in the Theresa Town Court, respondent referenced his own September 2021 appearance in the Theresa Town Court and, without evidence, said his experience led him to believe that Judge Roberts and Mr. McKeever “were tight” and “boyfriends and girlfriends [sic],” and that “it was kind of like . . . Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in Body Heat you know because they were so . . . close in the court that they were finishing each other’s sentences and stuff.”
Later during the conversation, after saying one of his friends had received a similar zoning violation ticket from Mr. McKeever, respondent said, “You think they would learn, you know? I mean, you know, [Judge Roberts] got pounded pretty bad for what she did to me, you know? Fucking– and they just continue on with their . . . .
Sanction
In accepting the jointly recommended sanction of censure, we have taken into consideration that respondent has acknowledged that his conduct was improper and warrants public discipline. We trust that respondent has learned from this experience and in the future will act in strict accordance with his obligation to abide by all the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct.
(Mike Frisch)