Corrupt NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct at it again

Foul-Mouthed NY Judge Disciplined for Demeaning Comments in Court
The New York Law Journal by Joel Stashenko - July 1, 2008

An upstate Family Court judge has been admonished for making demeaning comments to two incarcerated men who sought to assert custody rights over their children and for using a vulgarity in court to refer to another party before him. The Commission on Judicial Conduct found that Broome County Family Court Judge Spero Pines failed to display the dignity and decorum required of a judge. "Respect for the fairness and impartiality of the court is better fostered by a judge's patience and courtesy than by anger, sarcasm and disrespect," the agency held in a decision released yesterday. Judge Pines accused both incarcerated men of "wasting my time" by seeking to have counsel assigned by the court to help them contest custody petitions filed by the mothers of their children. In one case, the mother was also in jail and Judge Pines told both spouses, "As far as I'm concerned, you're not in a position to take care of pets, much less children."

In the other matter, Judge Pines referred to the defendant in a family offense petition as an "asshole" within earshot of court personnel, though the subject of his insult and other parties in the case had left the courtroom. The commission indicated it was stopping at an admonition for Judge Pines, an attorney, because he was contrite about his wrongdoing, cooperated with the commission and had an otherwise unblemished 14-year record as a Family Court judge. Commission members Joseph W. Belluck and Richard D. Emery agreed with the admonition for the first two cases, but dissented over the judge's vulgarity. Messrs. Belluck and Emery held that the comment was made by Judge Pines during a private conversation with his staff and did not constitute misconduct.