A top judge in New York was met with outrage after he said voters needed to support judges who would give more lenient sentences to criminals.
New York state Republicans have filed a complaint against Chief Judge Rowan Wilson over comments he made at a panel discussion at the CUNY School of Law in Queens in February.
‘Your political opinion means nothing when you’re in that robe on the bench. Your politics should have nothing to do with the way you render a decision.’
The panelists were discussing a Democratic proposal to allow convicted criminals to request another sentencing hearing after serving 10 years. It’s called the Second Look Act.
Wilson mocked voters against the proposal as “stupid” and said judges should be more lenient on criminals.
“They hurt somebody maybe very seriously in the past, but they have come to be a very different person. And now we are spending a lot of money to keep them in prison. That’s stupid,” he said.
“It’s a very hard thing, I think, given the current sentencing framework, to get judges at the moment of sentencing, to think, ‘Oh, I should think about this fact that there isn’t a re-sentencing available,'” he added.
Wilson also cited a case where a judge referred to a defendant as an “animal” who should be “locked up” for the rest of his life. He called the comments “very distressing.”
Republicans accuse Wilson of breaking ethics rules.
“Your political opinion means nothing when you’re in that robe on the bench. Your politics should have nothing to do with the way you render a decision,” said New York state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R), who is also a ranking member of the judiciary panel. “We think it definitely warrants review. This is not us being dramatic or hysterical.”
A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration disagreed and said Wilson’s comments did not violate ethics rules.
“It is appropriate for the Chief Judge to express his views on pending legislation that affects the court system,” Al Baker said.
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“It is also appropriate for him to speak publicly about proper judicial temperament and values,” he added, “and to encourage New Yorkers to stay informed about the conduct of the judges serving their communities and to participate in the processes by which those judges are elected or appointed.”
Wilson has been the chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals since 2022 and was praised as the first African-American chief judge in New York. He could face removal from the bench by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, or he could simply get a private admonishment.
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