Posted on 10/01/2007 8:11:50 AM PDT by Cagey
NEW YORK - A Family Court judge whose alleged courtroom tirades included calling one man a "pig" and another "dysfunctional" has agreed to step down at the end of the year.
Judge Marian Shelton will finish out her 10-year term and agreed not to seek reappointment. A monitoring agency called the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, said Thursday it would not seek sanctions against her under the deal.
Shelton, 52, appointed in 1998 by then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani, reportedly has offers to star on television in a role similar to that of "Judge Judy" Sheindlin.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct said it had started investigating her courtroom behaviour but stopped when she agreed to leave.
It said Shelton admitted violating court rules in one case involving a woman who called the judge a vulgar name in court on Dec. 10, 2004. Shelton told the woman she was in contempt of court and ordered a court officer to handcuff her.
The judge told her "Shut up," "Shut your mouth" and "Be quiet" and had her put in a holding cell. After several minutes in the cell, the woman said she would apologize if given the chance. She was taken into the courtroom and apologized.
Shelton told her, "You will never enter my courtroom again for any reason," and the contempt charge was purged, the commission said.
Shelton's lawyer, Dean Yuzek, issued a statement noting Shelton's achievements as a judge.
"Judge Shelton is proud of her record as a judge who has handled 40,000 cases against a handful of appellate reversals," Yuzek said. He said Shelton made "a real and useful difference" in the lives of hundreds of people.
Other allegations against Shelton included:
-Calling a litigant "dysfunctional," telling him, "You don't have a home or a job. You don't have an education."
-Telling a Caribbean man before her that he looked "bizarre ... like someone I would not give my pet mouse to," and saying to the man, who had multicoloured bands in his hair, "Take those stupid things out of your hair when you come back into my courtroom."
-Telling a man he wasn't allowed to see his child "because you're a pig."
Interesting...
Rudolph Giuliani appointed this judge? Hmm, I might need to take another look at Rudy.
Marian is a dame.
If only the judge had called the litigant a filthy Christian.
Why is that?
If name calling is the worst they have on her, she’s a jewel in the NY City justice system.
She is not a guy; it is a girl who apparently will not rule for a show like Judge Judy which based on the article seems right up her lane
Fired for what?
"See if you can guess what I am now?"
will not rule=will now run
Sorry bout that not enough coffee yet
First off its a Woman, not a guy..
Secondly, why does she need fired?
Someone screams a vulgarity at you as a judge, you have the right to hold them in contempt... Which she did, I don’t see why this is even an issue.
While her comments to various defendants may not have been polite, I don’t see any of them as illegal or over the top.
Oh well.
Some very strange posts on this thread. I guess there are some people who just cannot grasp the concept of reading the article before opening their yaps.
IOW, I’m with you. Can’t see anything much amiss in what this judge said.
Some very strange posts on this thread. I guess there are some people who just cannot grasp the concept of reading the article before opening their yaps.
IOW, I’m with you. Can’t see anything much amiss in what this judge said.
Stop and look closely at the allegations ... remember that she had to deal with the dregs of society, day-in, day-out. That exchange with the woman who called her, a sitting judge, a vulgar name in her courtroom looks positively tame. As to her other comments, while insensitive, we do not know all the testimony that preceeded her pronouncements. Perhaps the man was a pig;, the litigant sure sounds dysfunctional to me and maybe it was high time that the person was so informed. The beads is a toughie but if the dude had a ganga rap sheet a mile long and was there for abandoning his family, perhaps asking him to get out of the Jamacian stoner look was sound advice. Nah, it sounds more like burn-out to me. I’m not sure I could deal with that job for long (family court).
oops
Not seeing a problem with this judge based on the anti-contempt incidents in the article. I’d be more interested in her legal judgments.
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