A divided upstate appellate panel has toppled a sex crime conviction because a trial judge who had three years earlier argued with the suspect’s girlfriend, and knew that the defendant’s name was on a grievance filed against the judge, refused to recuse himself from the case.
While all five Appellate Division, Fourth Department, justices agreed that it may have been advisable for Oswego County Court Judge Walter Hafner Jr. (See Profile) to have stepped aside, they differed on whether recusal was required and whether the judge’s decision to preside over People v. Warren, 12-00345, denied the defendant of a fair trial.
