diatribes against
her former boyfriend were revealed in
detail in New
Jersey's first open ethics hearing for a state
judge, was
suspended for three months without pay
yesterday by
the state Supreme Court.
Saying Williams
violated judicial ethics, the state's top
court took
tougher action than the public censure
recommended
by the Advisory Committee on Judicial
Conduct. With
the exception of four cases where judges
were removed
from the bench, the penalty is the harshest
imposed on
a state court judge since the advisory
committee was
formed in 1974.
The case was
the first to gain widespread attention after
the judiciary
ended its long tradition of behind-closed-doors
reviews of
judges' conduct.
Over four days
of testimony last summer in the Trenton
courtroom usually
used by the Supreme Court, a soap
opera-like
saga played out as Williams, who is a divorced
mother of two,
and the former boyfriend clashed over
details of
their relationship and confrontations in two
Mercer County
restaurants.
In a 5-1 decision
written by Chief Justice Deborah Poritz,
the court concluded
that Williams' behavior was
"irresponsible."
"Although her
actions were related only to her private life,
they took place
in public where others, knowing of her
status as a
judge, could lose confidence in the integrity
and impartiality
of the judiciary," Poritz wrote.
Williams, 49,
was on the bench yesterday in Somerset
County
but declined to comment.
Her attorney,
Justin P. Walder, issued a statement: "Judge
Williams is
committed to continue her service on the
bench in keeping
with the highest traditions of the judiciary
of New Jersey.
Today's decision brings closure to a difficult
chapter in
her private life."
On April 14,
2000, Williams was having dinner at the
Revere Restaurant
in Ewing Township when Alfred Bridges
Jr., a Mercer
County sheriff's officer and law student 20
years her junior,
came in with another woman.
An enraged
Williams confronted Bridges and his
companion,
who left before they were seated. Williams
followed them
to Joe's Mill Hill Saloon, a Trenton
restaurant,
and resumed the confrontation.
When Bridges
asked the owner to call the police, the judge
drove two blocks
to the Richard Hughes Justice Complex,
called 911
on her cell phone, and told the police Bridges
had followed
her there.
Poritz concluded
Williams "reshaped the truth to her own
ends"
when she spoke to Trenton police. The court also
found Williams
came "dangerously close to impersonating
a police officer"
when she called back to Joe's Mill Hill
Saloon and,
to get Bridges to come to the telephone,
identified
herself as an official of the Hopewell Police
Department.
The court rejected
Williams' contention she was suffering
from battered
woman syndrome. She "did not conform her
behavior
to the social norms expected of ordinary citizens
in our society,
and certainly not to the heightened standard
we expect of
judges," it ruled.
The court ordered
Williams to continue receiving
psychological
counseling.
The court opted
against removing Williams from the bench,
saying she
has been a fair judge and this would be too
harsh a punishment.
"We believe
that the goal of our disciplinary system --
enhancing public
confidence in the judiciary -- is furthered
by a three-month
suspension," Poritz said.
Justice Virginia
Long dissented, preferring censure. Justice
Jaynee LaVecchia
did not participate in the case.
Walder, Williams'
attorney, said her conduct was the
product of
a volatile relationship.
"It must be
recognized that whether an individual is a judge
or any other
citizen in society, it is difficult to extricate
oneself from
what the court stated was an 'abusive and
damaging relationship,'"
he said.
Bridges denied
he battered Williams. He said she pursued
him and threatened
to ruin his career when he rebuffed her
advances.
Glenn D. Savits,
the West Orange lawyer representing
Bridges, said
Bridges is pleased the court imposed a stiffer
penalty than
the one proposed by the Advisory Committee.
Before the
incident at the restaurants, Williams was
involved in
a dispute at Bridges' house that prompted
neighbors to
call the police. Williams was transferred from
Mercer to Somerset
county after that, but no disciplinary
action was
taken and she was given an additional seven
years on the
bench.
In the prior
cases ending in suspensions, the court
imposed a two-
month suspension on Superior Court Judge
Donald G. Collester
after he was convicted of driving under
the influence
for a second time, and a two-month
suspension
on Superior Court Judge Edward Seaman, who
was found guilty
of sexually harassing a law clerk. Seaman
resigned when
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
William Gormley
threatened to open impeachment
proceedings.
Geoffrey Hazard,
a professor at the University of
Pennsylvania
Law School and a national expert on judicial
ethics, said
the court could have been tougher on
Williams.
"Lying to law
enforcement is very, very bad," Hazard said.
"Removal would
be justified. A one- year suspension would
be justified."
Gormley said
he wanted the court to remove Williams. He
has no plans
to seek impeachment but expects Williams
will receive
lots of scrutiny from the Senate Judiciary
Committee when
she comes up for reappointment in March
2007.
"I personally
have a problem with her staying on the bench,
given the facts,"
said Gormley. "A three-month suspension
is basically
a $33,000 fine."
email: clr@clr.org
