APPEAL FROM THE HART 
A day after an Eastern District judge tossed Queens Supreme Court Justice Duane Hart’s efforts to have a misconduct investigation against him halted, the judge has taken his appeal public. That makes him just the ninth judge in more than 30 years — and 700 hearings — by the Commission on Judicial Conduct to waive confidentiality. The New York Law Journal has the story. The commission is investigating claims Hart falsely accused an attorney of extortion, asked an attorney with a case pending before him to testify on his behalf at a previous misconduct hearing, and helped his mother get around security at Queens Family Court. At an open hearing yesterday Hart lobbied to save his job, at one point saying, “If I get into a situation like that, I won't hold them in contempt like that. . . . If I had it to do over again, I might not contact [the attorney]. “A judge like this is not going to change,” countered the commission’s attorney, Jean Joyce. “He wants to blame everyone else.” -J.S.

OF STATUES AND GREEN SPACE 
Cityroom, The New York Times’ metro blog, discusses the recent ruling by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joan A. Madden dismissing a lawsuit by community activists seeking to halt renovations projects at Washington Square Park. At issue is whether the plans — including the displacement of the park’s signature fountain — endanger the free-speech and free spirit nature of the park. “When freedom of expression conflicts with security these days we find government siding with security even when it does not have any meaning,” said Daniel L. Alterman, the lawyer representing the people fighting the renovation. “This is Washington Square Park, it’s where Dylan played. It’s all very special.” -J.S.

ACQUITTAL #2 FOR THIS CONVICTED MURDERER 
Newsday reports on the acquittal in Manhattan Supreme Court of David Lemus, who had been imprisoned for more than 13 years for the fatal shooting of a bouncer outside a nightclub in 1990. Lemus had originally been acquitted in 2005 after evidence surfaced that the real gunman was Thomas “Spanky” Morales and a 2002 New York Police Department report that named Morales as the shooter. However, Lemus was still retried. Another man convicted of the murder and released, Olmedo Hidalgo, has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the city, accusing the district attorney’s office of false arrest, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. -J.S.

STATE LAND TAX BREAKS QUESTIONED 
Finally, Newsday also reports that Erie County Acting Supreme Court Justice Timothy J. Walker recently recognized a “disparity” resulting in “invidious discrimination” and the denial of equal protection under law in New York’s system of tax breaks for state land. Currently some municipalities get tax breaks for large tracts of state land, while others do not. The practice dates back to 1886, but added statutory expansions “divorced the rational relationship from any legitimate state purpose,” wrote Walker. “The state constitution does not prohibit dual tax rates or require that all taxpayers be treated the same. It requires only that those similarly situated be treated uniformly.” The spokesman for the Adirondack Council, John Sheehan, said ending such payments in the 6-million acre Adirondack Park, would have "terrible ramifications" for the area’s economy and possibly for the preserve. -J.S.

NYCLU SUES NYPD…AGAIN
The NYCLU is suing the NYPD for the allegedly unlawful arrest of Columbia graduate student Arun Wiita, Metro New York reports. Police handcuffed Wiita, a New Jersey native of South Asian/Middle Eastern ethnicity, as he was photographing an uptown subway station as part of a project for school. He was later released without charges. Wiitna thinks that he was targeted in part because of his ethnicity.  “I was surprised and upset that I could be handcuffed on the street for taking a photograph,” Wiita said. “What was really disheartening was that I knew this has probably happened before and that it could happen again to anyone.” In fact, it has happened before: The NYCLU settled with the city earlier this year after the police detained award-winning documentation Rakesh Sharma under similar circumstances. The cops defend their actions, saying that they have on occasion identified men taking photos of city transport as Iranian intelligence officers and suspected Pakistani terrorists. -L.N.