 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Disciplinary Counsel v. O'Neill9/7/2004
{ } The effect of this type of misconduct was discussed in People v. Ali (2000), 277 A.D.2d 138, 139, 717 N.Y.S.2d 114, reversed on other grounds (2001), 96 N.Y.2d 840, 729 N.Y.S.2d 434, 754 N.E.2d 193:
{ } "It is impermissibly coercive for a trial court to tell a criminal defendant that it will impose the maximum sentence if he is convicted after a trial. * * * When a court announces a blanket policy of imposing the maximum sentence for a certain type of crime, regardless of any mitigating evidence that may develop at trial, a defendant may feel he has no choice but to plead guilty. 'The inescapable effect of the court's statement, under the circumstances in which the plea was taken, was to coerce defendant into pleading guilty, and we find, therefore, that the plea was not a voluntary one.' (People v. Wilson[(1997), 245
A.D .2d 161, 163, 666 N.Y.S.2d 164])."
{ } Judges must routinely exercise their discretion in a myriad of ways while executing their duties in the administration of justice, and the abuse of that discretion typically generates an appeal, not disciplinary proceedings. But as the board found, judicial discretion does not extend to these strong-arm measures that respondent used to compromise defendants' right to trial. Thus, rather than classifying respondent's actions as an abuse of legitimate discretion, we agree that respondent's repeated use of the bond process and jail as leverage fell "outside any permissible discretion" and was "totally improper." For such an egregious departure from the bounds of judicial discretion, professional discipline is warranted.
{ } In another grave example of misconduct, respondent in another case failed to act as an impartial arbiter, refused to follow a court of appeals mandate, and interfered as an advocate, all in violation of the duties incumbent on a judge. In this sixth incident, a criminal defendant who had been charged with felony sex offenses and kidnapping entered an Alford plea to a non-sex-offense misdemeanor, simple assault. As a term of his probation, respondent ordered the defendant into sex-offender counseling, which, unknown to counsel in the case, would require respondent to admit that he had committed a sexual assault on a victim. The defendant refused to make this admission, and he was therefore discharged from counseling programs.
{ } Respondent revoked the defendant's probation for noncompliance. On appeal, the court of appeals invalidated the sex-offender-counseling condition of the defendant's probation. Despite this order and the plea she had accepted, respondent persistently attempted on remand to enforce the condition and to treat the defendant as a sex offender. Respondent also threatened on the record that if the defendant did not comply with the ordered counseling, the prosecution would file a motion for withdrawal of the guilty plea and that she would then set the matter for trial as a sexual offense.
{ } By refusing to comply with the mandate of an appellate court, respondent violated another basic judicial duty. Moreover, because the right to withdraw a plea belongs to the defendant alone, respondent's threat of withdrawal on the state's motion was, as the board found, "legally impossible" to fulfill. The threat was also highly coercive, so much so that the defendant decided to forgo his granted probation and serve the remainder of his jail term.
{ } In addition, respondent engaged in improper ex parte communications and violated her duties to remain impartial and avoid advocacy. In a seventh case, respondent refused to accept two codefendants' pleas of no contest to misdemeanors because the pleas were offered on the date of trial, and respond
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|