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Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct

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TikToking NJ Superior Court Judge Suspended TikToking NJ Superior Court Judge Suspended
TikToking NJ Superior Court Judge Suspended One of New Jersey's top judges has been suspended without pay over his TikTok accounts. A formal complaint by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct was filed last year against Bergen County Superior Court Judge Gary N. Wilcox.  The complaint cites Wilcox's 40 since-deleted videos posted under the pseudonym "Sal Tortorella" from April 2021 to March 2023. The complaint says that Wilcox recorded several TikTok videos in his chambers, including songs that contained profanity, graphic sexual references to female and male body parts, and/or racist terms.  In o…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ Judge 'Abused Power And Prestige' Of Office By Letting Secretary Work From Home, Panel Finds NJ Judge 'Abused Power And Prestige' Of Office By Letting Secretary Work From Home, Panel Finds
NJ Judge 'Abused Power And Prestige' Of Office By Letting Secretary Work From Home, Panel Finds A New Jersey judge "abused the power and prestige" of his office by allowing his secretary to work remotely for six months, a state ethics panel has charged. Superior Court Judge Douglas Hurd could be disciplined by the state Supreme Court if the justices support a complaint filed earlier this week by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct. The unidentified secretary had moved out of state in late 2021 but was exempted from New Jersey's residency requirement, the committee noted. Hurd, in turn, knowingly violated state judiciary policy -- claiming that he believed it was his discretion…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Judge Who Called Men 'In Control' And Women Created 'On A Curve' Begins Unpaid Suspension NJ Judge Who Called Men 'In Control' And Women Created 'On A Curve' Begins Unpaid Suspension
NJ Judge Who Called Men 'In Control' And Women Created 'On A Curve' Begins Unpaid Suspension A New Jersey judge will be benched for a month beginning Wednesday for telling a domestic violence defendant that men are "in control" and that God created women "on a curve." The state Supreme Court suspended Municipal Court Judge Steven Brister for the month without pay for the way he told the man to consider women. “We get frustrated with the women human beings. Because we try to straighten out a creation ‘cause they was created with a curve," said Brister, a defense attorney who works as a part-time judge in East Orange and Newark, during a 2019 case. The judge later explained he was r…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Judge Charged With Covering Ties To Friend She Appointed To Handle $600,000 Estate NJ Judge Charged With Covering Ties To Friend She Appointed To Handle $600,000 Estate
NJ Judge Charged With Covering Ties To Friend She Appointed To Handle $600,000 Estate Passaic County Surrogate Bernice Toledo tried to cover up her appointment of a longtime friend and political ally as administrator of a $600,000 estate over the objections of the dead man’s cousin, state authorities charged. Toledo, 51, of Wayne first drew the attention of a state judicial ethics committee after she claimed that “all of the competent adult next of kin and other persons having a prior right to administer the estate had renounced [that] right,” Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. “In reality, a relative of the decedent who had a prior right of administra…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Verdict: NJ Judge Who Suggested Rape Victim Close Her Legs Removed By State Supreme Court Verdict: NJ Judge Who Suggested Rape Victim Close Her Legs Removed By State Supreme Court
Verdict: NJ Judge Who Suggested Rape Victim Close Her Legs Removed By State Supreme Court A Jersey Shore judge who asked a rape victim whether she tried closing her legs to fend off the assault was permanently removed from the bench by the state Supreme Court. The justices unanimously agreed that “insensitive, threatening and discourteous, comments he made in his Ocean County courtroom – particularly toward the sex assault victim -- warranted the removal of Superior Court Judge John Russo Jr. He’s also prohibited from ever becoming a judge in New Jersey again. The former Toms River mayor had been suspended pending the final decision of the state’s highest court for asking the r…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Middlesex Judge Who Advised Woman To Sell Nude Photos To Playboy Should Be Censured, Panel Says Middlesex Judge Who Advised Woman To Sell Nude Photos To Playboy Should Be Censured, Panel Says
Middlesex Judge Who Advised Woman To Sell Nude Photos To Playboy Should Be Censured, Panel Says A Middlesex County assignment judge should be censured for suggesting a plaintiff in his courtroom sell nude photos of herself to Playboy magazine, the state’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct said. Rivas, a graduate of Princeton University and Rutgers Law School, has since issued an apology. The panel’s recommendations, released on Wednesday, will go to the state Supreme Court for a decision on disciplinary action. Rivas has been reprimanded twice before for making inappropriate comments from the bench, according to court records.  The latest complaint against the judge came last …

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by Jon Craig