The Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y., Thursday reinstated six felony counts against former New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald P. Garson with a precedential ruling that judges can face criminal prosecution for acts that started with a violation of the Rules of Judicial Conduct.
Thursday's 6-1 opinion means the former judge accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks from a divorce lawyer is once again confronted with the full panoply of felony charges lodged against him following a sting operation initiated by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes' office.
Garson now faces trial on a total of seven felonies -- one count of receiving a bribe and six of receiving reward for official misconduct. All of the charges stem from an illicit attorney-judge relationship involving Garson and attorney Paul Siminovsky.
Garson's attorney, Diarmuid White of Manhattan, had argued -- successfully, in the lower courts -- that the Rules of Judicial Conduct could not be used to criminally prosecute a judge. The preamble to the rules makes plain that they are not designed or intended to support a criminal prosecution, and the Court of Appeals accepted that proposition in People v. La Carrubba, 46 NY2d 658 (1979). But Thursday the court clarified La Carrubba, holding that while a violation of the rules alone cannot sustain a criminal prosecution, judges are not immune from indictment when an ethics violation escalates into criminality.
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