Court Administration Failures Result in Another Judge's Departure

Bronx Justice Collins Set to Retire on Dec. 31
The New York Law Journal by Laura Haring  -  November 14, 2011

Acting Bronx Supreme Court Justice John P. Collins, 72, will retire at the end of the year even though he is eligible to apply to serve an additional four years. Justice Collins said that finances played a key role in his decision to leave the bench after 33 years. "It costs me more to come to work than to stay home," he said in an interview. Salaries for Supreme Court justices are scheduled to increase to $160,000 from $136,700 on April 1, the first raise since 1999. The pay will reach $174,000 in April 2014. However, "even with the new raise, pension-wise I wouldn't do any better," Justice Collins said.  A former Manhattan assistant district attorney, Justice Collins was appointed to Criminal Court in 1978 and was named an acting Supreme Court justice in 1982. He said he was the first judge in the United States to admit computer-generated diagrams and presided over the first trial in state court of a presidential Cabinet member, Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan. Mr. Donovan and 10 others were acquitted in 1987 of corruption charges in connection with the construction of a subway line.  Justice Collins served as supervising judge of the Bronx Supreme Court's Criminal Term from 1999 to 2002 and as administrative judge from 2002 to 2009. In that position he was instrumental in the merger of the Supreme Court, Criminal Division, and the Bronx Criminal Court and helped oversee the building of a mammoth new courthouse.  Justice Collins, who was certificated in 2010, turns 73 in January. He plans to travel and spend time with his twin 1-year-old grandchildren. "There is a life beyond the courts," he said.