A two-hour fit of pique in which an New York upstate city judge ordered 46 defendants into custody because none would take responsibility for a cell phone that went off in court should cost him his judicial career, the Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended Tuesday.
Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert M. Restaino’s “painfully prolonged” outburst on March 11, 2005, “transcended poor judgment” and warrants his removal from the bench, according to the commission’s recommendation to the Court of Appeals.
