Appellate justice is disciplined
Nancy E. Smith admonished by state panel for unsolicited letter of support for inmate
By Bob Gardinier
Updated 10:25 pm, Friday, June 28, 2013
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Albany
For the first time in its 35-year history, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct has publicly disciplined an Appellate Division justice.
Nancy E. Smith, a justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester reportedly used her position to try to get an early release of a man in prison for vehicular manslaughter.
Smith was admonished for sending an unsolicited letter of support on behalf of an inmate she had never met who was applying for parole, said Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian.
Admonishment is the mildest form of judicial discipline.
Smith has 30 days to accept or appeal the decision.
In its ruling released Friday, the commission said Smith's actions were "inconsistent with well-established ethical standards prohibiting a judge from lending the prestige of judicial office to advance private interests," Tembeckjian said. "This marks the first time the Commission has publicly disciplined an Appellate Division Justice, whose high rank should have made her especially sensitive to setting an example and obeying the ethics rules."
The matter involved the case of Craig Cordes who was sentenced in May 2008 to up to 10 years in state prison after he was convicted of first-degree vehicular manslaughter. Cordes, who had just completed his second year in law school, was intoxicated when he smashed his boat into another on July 8, 2007, on Skaneateles Lake, killing two people.
Cordes first became eligible for parole in August 2011 and Smith allegedly used her judicial stationery to write a letter to the state Division of Parole on behalf of Cordes to tell the board that he was a "good person," Tembeckjian said.
The judge became aware of the inmate's situation through a relative who is a friend of the inmate's mother.
Smith had never met the inmate but had corresponded with him, the commission's decision said.
Cordes' parole was denied.
Since 1978, the commission has issued 167 determinations of removal against judges in the state, 304 censures and 249 admonitions, Tembeckjian said.
Smith, who has an annual salary of $168,600, took office in 2004. Her current term expires in 2025.
She was admitted to the bar in 1982 and served as a Monroe County Supreme Court and County Court judge.
bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier
For the first time in its 35-year history, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct has publicly disciplined an Appellate Division justice.
Nancy E. Smith, a justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester reportedly used her position to try to get an early release of a man in prison for vehicular manslaughter.
Smith was admonished for sending an unsolicited letter of support on behalf of an inmate she had never met who was applying for parole, said Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian.
Admonishment is the mildest form of judicial discipline.
Smith has 30 days to accept or appeal the decision.
In its ruling released Friday, the commission said Smith's actions were "inconsistent with well-established ethical standards prohibiting a judge from lending the prestige of judicial office to advance private interests," Tembeckjian said. "This marks the first time the Commission has publicly disciplined an Appellate Division Justice, whose high rank should have made her especially sensitive to setting an example and obeying the ethics rules."
The matter involved the case of Craig Cordes who was sentenced in May 2008 to up to 10 years in state prison after he was convicted of first-degree vehicular manslaughter. Cordes, who had just completed his second year in law school, was intoxicated when he smashed his boat into another on July 8, 2007, on Skaneateles Lake, killing two people.
Cordes first became eligible for parole in August 2011 and Smith allegedly used her judicial stationery to write a letter to the state Division of Parole on behalf of Cordes to tell the board that he was a "good person," Tembeckjian said.
The judge became aware of the inmate's situation through a relative who is a friend of the inmate's mother.
Smith had never met the inmate but had corresponded with him, the commission's decision said.
Cordes' parole was denied.
Since 1978, the commission has issued 167 determinations of removal against judges in the state, 304 censures and 249 admonitions, Tembeckjian said.
Smith, who has an annual salary of $168,600, took office in 2004. Her current term expires in 2025.
She was admitted to the bar in 1982 and served as a Monroe County Supreme Court and County Court judge.
bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier
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