Judge Admits To Unlawful Contempt Act
By Heidi Bruggink
hbruggink@judicialstudies.com
Posted: 09-27-07
Family Court Judge will step down at year’s end.
New York City Family Court Judge Marian Shelton of the Bronx has agreed that she will not seek reappointment when her term expires on December 31 of this year, admitting to a violation of “certain stipulated ethical rules.”
Shelton admitted to the first charge in a Complaint filed by the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct: ordering her intake clerk’s wife, Michelle Nusser, “handcuffed, placed in a holding cell, and detained [over the weekend] without abiding by any lawful contempt procedure and without cause” after an altercation beginning when Nusser entered the litigant-free courtroom and motioned to her spouse.
On June 1, 2007, the Commission served Shelton with its 13-point Complaint. Shelton’s June 25 answer called it “a misuse of the Commission’s limited resources” and accused the initiator, Dennis Quirk, President of the New York State Court Officers Association, of filing for personally motivated reasons.
“Quirk dislikes Judge Shelton for pointing out security lapses in the courthouse where she functions and for refusing to accede to his boast that he controls the courtrooms,” the Answer said. “In a belligerent phone call to Judge Shelton meant to intimidate, Quirk threatened to end Judge Shelton’s career as a jurist – a threat, with the Commission staff’s help – he is trying to make good.”
Shelton’s move to dismiss the case was rebuffed, as was her attempt to disqualify her appointed referee, Robert H. Straus. In yesterday’s hearing, Shelton conceded to Charge I of the Complaint and did not contest its finding that she had “fail[ed] to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary by failing to maintain high standards of conduct” set forth by Article 44, subdivision 1, of the Judiciary Law.
There was no affirmation of the 12 other charges, which included a litany of alleged violations: Shelton told Russina McDuffie, a party in a 2005 case, to “shut up” and called her “dysfunctional… you have some emotional or mental disability.” In the 2005 case of Patricia Howard, Shelton said, “Go to therapy, but don’t act out in my courtroom.” In 2006, Shelton was allegedly “impatient, undignified, and discourteous” to a court officer, saying, “Get me a supervisor, I have an officer here who doesn’t know what she is doing.” In a case later that year, the judge mocked attorney Mariana Toledo-Hermina’s accent, asking the courtroom, “Where is she from?,” “How can she be understood?,” and “How is [she] an attorney when you cannot understand what she is saying?” Other charges include slamming the door on Judge Monica Drinane of the New York City Civil Court, and, after a conversation with Family Court Judge Alma Cordova regarding a case file, entering Cordova’s courtroom while it was in session and “slamm[ing] the case file on a table.”
According to the Commission’s website, Shelton agreed not to seek judicial office at any point after the expiration of her term. In the public finding, Shelton also agreed that “disciplinary proceedings” could resume if she returns to judicial office or violates the stipulations set forth.
“We never comment on decisions handed down by the CJC,” said David Bookstaver, Communications Director of the Office of Court Administration. “It speaks for itself.”
Shelton admitted to the first charge in a Complaint filed by the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct: ordering her intake clerk’s wife, Michelle Nusser, “handcuffed, placed in a holding cell, and detained [over the weekend] without abiding by any lawful contempt procedure and without cause” after an altercation beginning when Nusser entered the litigant-free courtroom and motioned to her spouse.
On June 1, 2007, the Commission served Shelton with its 13-point Complaint. Shelton’s June 25 answer called it “a misuse of the Commission’s limited resources” and accused the initiator, Dennis Quirk, President of the New York State Court Officers Association, of filing for personally motivated reasons.
“Quirk dislikes Judge Shelton for pointing out security lapses in the courthouse where she functions and for refusing to accede to his boast that he controls the courtrooms,” the Answer said. “In a belligerent phone call to Judge Shelton meant to intimidate, Quirk threatened to end Judge Shelton’s career as a jurist – a threat, with the Commission staff’s help – he is trying to make good.”
Shelton’s move to dismiss the case was rebuffed, as was her attempt to disqualify her appointed referee, Robert H. Straus. In yesterday’s hearing, Shelton conceded to Charge I of the Complaint and did not contest its finding that she had “fail[ed] to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary by failing to maintain high standards of conduct” set forth by Article 44, subdivision 1, of the Judiciary Law.
There was no affirmation of the 12 other charges, which included a litany of alleged violations: Shelton told Russina McDuffie, a party in a 2005 case, to “shut up” and called her “dysfunctional… you have some emotional or mental disability.” In the 2005 case of Patricia Howard, Shelton said, “Go to therapy, but don’t act out in my courtroom.” In 2006, Shelton was allegedly “impatient, undignified, and discourteous” to a court officer, saying, “Get me a supervisor, I have an officer here who doesn’t know what she is doing.” In a case later that year, the judge mocked attorney Mariana Toledo-Hermina’s accent, asking the courtroom, “Where is she from?,” “How can she be understood?,” and “How is [she] an attorney when you cannot understand what she is saying?” Other charges include slamming the door on Judge Monica Drinane of the New York City Civil Court, and, after a conversation with Family Court Judge Alma Cordova regarding a case file, entering Cordova’s courtroom while it was in session and “slamm[ing] the case file on a table.”
According to the Commission’s website, Shelton agreed not to seek judicial office at any point after the expiration of her term. In the public finding, Shelton also agreed that “disciplinary proceedings” could resume if she returns to judicial office or violates the stipulations set forth.
“We never comment on decisions handed down by the CJC,” said David Bookstaver, Communications Director of the Office of Court Administration. “It speaks for itself.”