A judge from Western New York was publicly admonished by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Tuesday for failing to immediately recuse himself from three criminal cases involving his neighbor, whom he spoke to informally about the matter months before the litigation.

David Porter, a justice of the Allegany Town Court in Cattaraugus County, did not disqualify himself from the cases, even though they were prompted by a land dispute he previously discussed with his neighbor at home, the commission said. Porter is not an attorney.