Colby Hamilton’s article, “Close Family Ties Between Queens Judges, Prosecutors, Raise Appearance Concerns” (August 7, 2018), is spot-on in throwing needed light on the workings of the courts of the County of Queens.

For 33 years, I served as a judge in Queens, first in the New York City Criminal Court and later in the New York State Supreme Court. Prior to that, for 17 years I tried cases in the courts of Queens. Accordingly, I am in a position to appreciate that, like Caesar’s wife, the very legitimacy of our courts requires that they “must be above suspicion.”