Judge testifies against former court intern, calls witness stand 'a different experience'
A New York judge was initially willing to let Christopher Ransom observe her courtroom one day a week last year.
But, put off by what she described as his odd behavior–and her discovery that he was not actually enrolled in school as he had claimed–Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango soon changed her mind. Monday she took the witness stand in Brooklyn to testify against the 22-year-old, reports the New York Daily News.
“He was obsessed with the idea of getting into the courthouse without going through the metal detectors,” DiMango testified. “He was relentless.”
Ransom is accused of violating a protective order in a prior case that barred him from getting near DiMango or another judge. Earlier this year, prosecutors say Ransom went to family court, which is in the same building as the supreme court, and tried to gain entry with a photocopy of an old ID.
“It’s a different experience,” DiMango said after her testimony. “It makes you appreciate how it is to be up there.”
Defense attorney Martin Goldberg said his client, who pleaded guilty last year to criminal impersonation and got three months, should not be punished a second time for internship-related conduct.
Outside court, he also questioned why Ransom, who is now charged with a misdemeanor that carries a maximum one-year term, has been held for five months on $50,000 bail, the newspaper reports.
