Cell phone 'lunacy' prompts N.Y. judge's removal

It was a normal enough morning in a Niagara Falls courtroom, with Judge Robert Restaino plodding through his routine batch of domestic violence arraignments. That is, until a ringing cell phone pierced the air.

What followed was "two hours of inexplicable madness," including the jailing of 46 people, according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. In a scathing report Tuesday, that panel recommended the city court judge be removed.

"Now, whoever owns the instrument that is ringing, bring it to me now or everybody could take a week in jail and please don't tell me I'm the only one that heard that," Restaino said on that fateful morning of March 11, 2005, according to the commission's report.

"Everyone is going to jail; every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now," he went on. "If anybody believes I'm kidding, ask some of the folks that have been here for a while. You are all going."

When no one fessed up, the judge, who was set to deal with 70 cases that morning, called back the 11 defendants he had already released on their own recognizance and set extra bail. All told, he ordered that 46 defendants be held in custody, according to the commission report. They were ultimately placed in crowded "holding" cells at the county jail, and some weren't released for a couple of hours.

Although Restaino "chastised" at length the defendants who claimed ignorance about the ringing phone's owner and accused the culprit of being "self-absorbed" for not coming forward, he never questioned "any of the prosecutors, defense attorneys, court personnel, program representatives or others who were present in the courtroom," the report found.

The commission concluded Restaino, who conceded he had no legal right to take the defendents into custody, had committed "an egregious and unprecedented abuse of judicial power." One panel member, however, said he was more inclined to pursue a penalty somewhere in between censure and complete removal, suggesting the episode was a fluke ("two hours of viral lunacy out of a person's entire professional life").

Restaino, for his part, attributed his behavior to "certain stresses in his personal life," according to the report.

Restaino plans to appeal the ruling and seek reinstatement to the post, which paid $113,900 per year, according to the Associated Press.

[Gromit801]

Lots of Lunacy

Yes, the judge was a complete twit for is actions.

But I don't know which disturbs me more; the judges actions, or
the owner of the cell phone willing to allow other people to go to
jail because they couldn't part with "their precious." (cell phone)

[JeffW42]

You need some perspective

If you don't think an abuse of power is more heinous than not fessing up to forgetting to turn off your cell phone, perhaps you should go live in North Korea. What do you think that twit of a judge would have done to the possessor of the offending cell phone? Would his abuse of power been challenged in that case? I think it was a good thing no one fessed up.

[Too Old For IT]

Binkies and Bankies ... then precious cellphones

Binkies and Bankies ... then precious cellphones

[Arrgster]

Clear the room

I think he has right to clear the room. I would have gone down that route and said if you don't fess up I will clear the room..

[basraw]

court

in virginia, i had to turn over my cellphone over to the guard in the front.

so some dummy wouldn't fess up? i would of snitched on him.

[nedmorlef]

i knew before i got through the posts

some traitor would come forth.
the people in that courtroom were probably protecting the inconsiderate cell phone owner because in america we believe the punishment should fit the crime.
it appears no one was willing o see that person go to jail for ignorance or inconsideration by leaving their cell phone on.
jail is not a nice place mostly because the foxes guarding it allow it to be that way.
i'm just glad you're there and not here. if you ratted me out or anyone else i would probably have to borrow a jackboot to stick up your a$$.

[allstar919]

No one got hurt...

I kind of like the judge's decision. Not fessing up to your mistakes is one of the worst things about Americans. And who's to say this person was the only one with their cell phone on.

[nedmorlef]

your liking it is why

you don't have a constitution where you live. it's called totalitarian control.

you and that judge are obviously from the same gene pool.

[SuezanneC]

The insane violence that lies hiding

The insane violence that lies hidden in the minds of statists sometimes surfaces in odd ways.

It would have been interesting if people had resisted.

The judge should lose his job, maybe get put in jail, and have to pay damages to wronged parties.

[mikeburek]

Not very nice

If the first thing he said when he heard the phone was "Now, whoever owns the instrument that is ringing, bring it to me now or everybody could take a week in jail and please don't tell me I'm the only one that heard that," then I would have been too scared to turn myself in. Simply asking for the person to turn it off would have gotten the proper result. He is the one who made himself out to be a crazy man. And it's hard to deal with a crazy man - especially alone. The person had a better chance of not being thrown into jail for a week alone, or losing his cell phone forever, by not saying anything and letting the judge show just how crazy he really was.

[mikeburek]

Don T Hutto Detention Center

This is why we should not have detention centers in the US. That goes against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What if this were a tiny town and there were only 3 people in the room. They probably would have stayed in jail for the full week and no one would have known about it until much later. A detention does not have any checks and balances. You should only be locked up after a speed fair trial where you have been convicted. Otherwise, you are free. No detention centers!

[mikeburek]

Detention centers

Nazi concentration camps were Detention Centers.

[spruceman]

Judge Cellphone

Not only should he be fired from his judgeship and disbarred from any subsequent legal practice, he should be arrested and tried for false imprisonment on (n-1) counts (the minus one to account for the errant cell owner).

[Too Old For IT]

$113,900????

$113,900???? Hell, I want that job.

[JuliAlexander]

New York has a judicial selection commission

About 20 states do have this; where the judicial branch chooses "viable" candidates for judicial appointment. Doesn't it work beautifully? Especially with regard to things like judicial mental health, drug abuse issues, rage-aholism...black robe megalomania and more. Phooey. Citizens can do a bettr job on their own, and "a 2007 Harvard study actually found that judges who are elected directly by voters are overall less corrupt than those who win their robes through other methods of selection" quoted by WSJ.com. Judges need better monitoring, regular mental health exams and drug/alcohol testing.

[ndehiliyadda]

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...........
Nishantha
New York Drug Treatment