Bad Judicial behavior
The N.J. Law Journal reports:
A municipal judge who declined criminal defendants’ requests for a public defender and then tried their case without a prosecutor — at times acting like one — is facing stinging ethics charges by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.
Louis DiLeo’s “actions transformed the role of the court from a neutral and detached magistrate and evoked the specter of the backwater ‘judge, jury and executioner’ figure that has never had any place in American jurisprudence,” the ACJC says in a formal complaint made public Wednesday.
Commentary
In my first five years of practice, I made appearances in a gazillion municipal courts. The partners in my law firm were quick to remind me it would be a great learning experience; especially when our client’s trials commenced around 11:00 p.m. It wasn’t.
Today, things are a lot different. When I’ve recently appeared in municipal court, I was very pleasantly surprised at the efficiency and excellent demeanor exhibited by the municipal court judges, and court personal. Unfortunately, there are exceptions. This Linden judge is one of them.
His Honor is certainly not going to let due process, or the Constitution stand in the way of running “his” courtroom.
Too bad.
