Judge Training Other Judges Removed for Ticket -Fixing

05/11/12

On Thursday, Diane Schilling resigned from her position as director of the Office of Justice Court Support, where she was in charge of mandatory training programs for local judges. Diane has admitted to fixing speeding tickets, and we just hope it was not something she taught her students. Diane, who before Thursday, was in charge of training New York's town and village justices resigned after the Judicial Conduct Commission recommended her removal.


The Judicial Conduct Commission released its determination on the case on Thursday and stated that in 2009, Diane caused the disappearance of a speeding ticket issued to the wife of Judge Paul Toomey. At the time, Diane was working under Toomey, who was the then director of Justice Court Support. However, in case you are wondering who taught the tricks to Diane, Toomey has been found innocent. In fact, it was also revealed that in 2005, Diane allowed a state trooper to void a speeding ticket issued to her, when he learned that she was a judge.

Diane admitted during the proceedings that she had contacted Toomey in an improper fashion and that also she had accepted the trooper's offer to void her own speeding ticket.

The commission held “Ticket fixing strikes at the heart of our system of justice, which is based on equal treatment for all … (Diane's) actions showed a complete disregard for her ethical responsibilities and for the legal process she was sworn to uphold.”

“As a former attorney and as an experienced judge, there can be no question that (Diane) was familiar with the process surrounding the issuance and prosecution of traffic tickets,” reads the determination. Diane Schilling can move for appeal within early June, failing which the decision would become effective and she would be removed from the bench.

In 1985, the Court of Appeals had held in the Matter of Reedy that ticket fixing done by judges “is misconduct of such gravity as to warrant removal.” However, the practice remains widespread, and as an investigation by the commission found in the 1970's, at least 140 judges needed to be disciplined for violations of their responsibilities in matter of fixing tickets.

Well, if those who are training local judges are themselves into fixing tickets, it's no surprise that the practice has become widespread in the judiciary.