Leniency Pleas for Judge Who Jailed 46 Over Ringing Cell Phone
A state commission on judicial conduct has recommended removal from office for a New York municipal jurist who jailed 46 people in what it terms “two hours of inexplicable madness” over a ringing cell phone.
But amicus briefs from legal, judicial and civic groups are piling up in the case, which is now in the state Court of Appeals, seeking to save Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert Restaino’s job, reports the New York Law Journal. He has been suspended by the city, with pay, since December.
At what is described as a stressful time in his personal life, Restaino clearly overreacted to a cell phone ringing in his domestic violence court and jailed 46 people for part of the day when he couldn’t identify the individual responsible for the interruption, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post. But this was an isolated incident in an otherwise praiseworthy judicial career, his supporters argue.
“The amicus briefs cite Restaino’s spotless 12-year judicial record, his standing in the community and the isolated nature of the incident in his courtroom on March 11, 2005, as all weighing in favor of the court reducing his punishment to censure,” the law journal writes.
