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Wiseacre Judge Says He's Suffered Enough for His Barbs From the Bench
New Jersey Law Journal
May 14, 2009
James Convery, an Essex County, N.J., judge whose wisecracking from the bench landed him in disciplinary proceedings, has asked to be spared from punishment because he conceded his error, apologized for it and has already been punished due to public embarrassment.
In his answer to a formal ethics complaint, Convery admits to two alleged incidents, captured on tape, in which he asked a past president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey if she was an illegal alien and joked about a litigant who used a hearing aid.
But Convery takes issue with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct characterizations of his actions. The ACJC said his words to the lawyer, Ivette Alvarez, "created the appearance of a racial bias" and were "undignified and discourteous" to her, intemperate and prejudicial to the administration of justice so as to bring the judicial office into disrepute, in violation of Canons 3A(4), (2) and (3) of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Rules 2:15-8(a)(4) and (6).
The committee termed his mockery of the hearing-impaired litigant, Joseph Kozielski, "disrespectful and insulting" and prejudicial to the administration of justice, contrary to Canons 3A(2) and (3) and Rule 2:15-8(a)(6).
The ACJC said that Convery, by his remarks to Alvarez and Kozielski, also violated Canons 1 and 2A by not maintaining high standards of conduct and or acting in a manner that promotes public confidence in the judiciary's integrity and impartiality.
In his answer, made public on Tuesday, Convery states that at a March 6, 2008, meeting with the committee to discuss both incidents, he expressed his regret and apologized, which is the basis for one of seven affirmative defenses he raises.
Convery says he owned up to the impropriety and apologized not only with the ACJC but also right away, in court on the record. Those acts of contrition demonstrated his "good character and understanding of his responsibilities" and lack of ill intent, and the public embarrassment he has suffered has been sufficient punishment, he says.
Convery also asserts that he had no intent "to offend, be derogatory or express any bias" and his words were "spontaneous reactions to address problems within the context of the proceedings before him." He describes himself as "an exceptionally highly regarded jurist in the difficult area of family law."
Alvarez, of Einhorn Harris Ascher Barbarito & Frost in Denville, filed the ethics grievance based on remarks at a Jan. 4, 2008, hearing in Family Part.
Convery expressed disbelief over the inability of Alvarez's client, Benjamin Taylor, to produce his Social Security earnings statements and asked others in the courtroom whether they had received their own statements. When Alvarez replied she had not received one for three years, Convery asked: "Well, when did you become an illegal alien?"
Alvarez told him his words were "totally inappropriate" and walked out of the courtroom. She returned about 10 minutes later and Convery apologized.
When the ACJC filed its complaint on April 1, Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey president George Rios said in a statement that "ethnic slurs have no place in the courts of New Jersey."
The other incident took place on Sept. 20, 2007, when Convery, informed that Kozielski relied on a hearing aid, got observers to laugh by asking "What?" He later referred to the TV show "Bionic Woman" on hearing about Kozielski's five knee surgeries, back operation and hip and knee replacement.
Convery's lawyer, Benjamin Del Vento Jr. of Livingston, could not be reached for immediate comment.
