Drinking, DUI / DWI, Law Schools, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

Judge Accused Of Having Inappropriate Relationship With Cooley Law Student

By Staci Zaretsky

Judge J. Cedric Simpson and Crystal Marie Vargas

Law students who get to intern with judges are pretty lucky. If they play their cards right, they’ll be able to get a lasting relationship out of it — just think of all the tips, tricks, and recommendations that judge will be able to give you in your life as a lawyer.
Some law students who intern with judges reportedly forge “other” kinds of relationships with their would-be mentors. Those alleged relationships come with all sorts of perks, but if you get caught, the gavel may come down hard.
Take, for example, the case of Michigan Judge J. Cedric Simpson. Simpson is accused of having a “personal” relationship with Crystal Marie Vargas, a graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School who once served as his intern. Simpson is now facing a complaint from the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission over his alleged actions while Vargas worked for him in chambers, including an incident where, according to the complaint, the judge attempted to interfere with the investigation and prosecution of Vargas’s September 2013 drunk driving charge.
Let’s take a peek at what allegedly went down between Simpson and Vargas…

Simpson is a 14-A District Court judge in Michigan, and we presume Vargas is a recent graduate of Cooley Law. Her LinkedIn profile seems to have been deleted, but here’s a snippet from it that we were able to find:

It seems that on the early morning of September 8, 2013, Vargas was driving drunk and crashed her car into a tow truck at about 4:30 a.m. The first person she called to tell about the accident was not a relative, not a law school classmate, not a boyfriend, not the police, but Simpson, who allegedly showed up at the scene less than 10 minutes later. Here’s what happened next, according to MLive.com’s report:

[Simpson] interfered with a field sobriety test being administered by Pittsfield Township Police Officer Robert Cole. In his initial response to the commission’s request for comments, Simpson denied speaking with Vargas while Cole administered the sobriety test to her.
Vargas was released from Washtenaw County jail at approximately 8 a.m. and allegedly went to Simpson’s home. Simpson then allegedly drove Vargas to recover her vehicle and paid the towing fees on his own credit card after her card was declined.
The second count alleged by the commission is that Simpson interfered with Vargas’ prosecution following the incident. He allegedly contacted Pittsfield Township city attorney Victor Lillich on multiple occasions in an attempt to intercede on Vargas’ behalf.

Despite Simpson’s best efforts to help this “good girl,” Vargas was charged with one count of operating a motor vehicle while impaired. She pleaded guilty, and was sentenced on January 21, 2014.
Simpson, of course, denies interfering with the police investigation or trying to get “special treatment” for his intern. Simpson also denies that he had a “personal” relationship with Vargas, but this excerpt from the Judicial Tenure Commission’s complaint seems to stand in contradiction to the judge’s assertions:

Simpson’s lawyer, Ken Mogill, had this to say about the complaint, per the Detroit Free Press: “We respectfully disagree with the JTC’s allegations, and I expect Judge Simpson will be exonerated.”
Best of luck to Judge J. Cedric Simpson as he tries to fight these ethical charges and keep his job, and best of luck to Crystal Vargas on the Texas bar exam. They’ll both need all the help they can get.
(Flip to the next page to see the juicy complaint filed against Judge Simpson.)

1 2

Three Judges From Same Court Busted For DWI

Three Judges From Same Court Busted For DWI By Joe Patrice

One is an outlier. A sad reminder of the legal profession’s struggle with alcoholism. Two is a curiosity. Perhaps a coincidence? But when three judges, all from the same court, get charged with DWI over the course of a mere six months, you’re looking at a trend.
Just this morning, the third judge in this trend was handcuffed and led away from the scene of an accident. In this case, the courtroom parking lot. That’s right, she’s accused of running over the gate to the lot and then ramming a parked sheriff’s car.
At 8:00 a.m.
There must have been an awesome special on mimosas at the local IHOP knockoff….

Apparently the Broward County Courthouse is the place to be if you want to get riggety riggety wrecked, son! This morning was Judge Lynn Rosenthal’s turn to see how the other half of her criminal courtroom lives when she gets booked at the Broward Main Jail. There are scant details of the accident so far, but everyone agrees that a sheriff’s vehicle was hit, and they’re blaming Judge Rosenthal, a Governor Scott appointee facing an electoral challenge this year from the happiest person in Florida today.
But what makes this story interesting is the fact that Broward County judges can’t seem to get away from defending themselves against drunk driving charges. The Broward County bar must be excellent… and I’m sure they have some good lawyers too.
The trend kicked off back in November when Judge Cynthia Imperato was pinched for drunk driving after a fellow motorist called 911:

“He’s all over the road,” said a caller who phoned 911 at 9:49 p.m. Tuesday to report seeing an erratic white Mercedes-Benz turn onto Northeast Second Street from Federal Highway.
“He nearly sideswiped me twice. He’s gotta be drunk,” the caller, who said he wasn’t sure if the driver was male or female, said. “He’s really dangerous.”
It was nearly an hour later and less than three miles away when police witnessed the erratically driven white Mercedes-Benz for themselves, a police report said.
Imperato, a judge since 2003, refused to take a breath test after she was pulled over shortly before 11 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Palmetto Park Road, the report said.
She was in the driver’s seat with her window rolled down and was attempting to use her cellphone when Officer Robert Jesionek approached, the report said.
When he asked Imperato if she knew why he stopped her, Imperato said “she was weaving,” the report said.
“I could smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath. Her eyes were red and glassy. Her speech was slow and slurred. Her face was red and flush,” Jesionek wrote.
Jesionek set up his in-car camera and asked Imperato to get out of her car, but she refused and said she was calling her attorney, the report said. Jesionek observed that she “was having problems dialing any numbers.”

The video of the incident was eventually released, and despite the characterization of the commentators that she was “uncooperative,” she sounds like she just wants to talk to her lawyer and refuses to comply with the police’s standard operating BS of asking directed questions hoping a suspect will “voluntarily” do something they aren’t prepared to order her to do. She’s not only a judge but a former prosecutor and a former cop, so I think she knew exactly what she was doing.

At the time, Chief Judge Peter Weinstein said he had “no specific protocol in place dictating how to handle a judge in this situation.” He may want to invest some time in developing one. Starting with a designated driver program.
Judge Gisele Pollack was arrested on May 1 after a car crash. In that accident, another driver was injured, prompting Pollack to be charged with four counts of DUI and failure to use due care. Just days ago, the Supreme Court of Florida suspended Pollack for allegedly violating the code of judicial conduct. She certainly sounds like she was drinking on the job based on audio tapes that caught her making slurred and somewhat off-kilter comments in open court:

The news channel, because it’s awful local news, fixates on questioning whether someone with an acknowledged history of addiction should be hearing drug cases. Actually, that sounds like an ideal person to be hearing drug cases, especially if, like Judge Pollack, she’d managed to stay sober for 20 years. Hopefully her suspension will give her an opportunity to get back on track — if not to return to the bench, then at least to get her life sorted out.
Not hanging around her colleagues might be a terrific start.
Broward judge arrested on DUI charge in courthouse parking lot [Sun Sentinel]
Judge Lynn Rosenthal Wreaks Havoc In Courthouse Parking Lot Before DUI Arrest [Daily Business Review]
Broward Judge Gisele Pollack accused of drunken driving in crash that sent man to hospital [Sun Sentinel]
Broward Judge Cynthia Imperato charged with DUI [Sun Sentinel]

31 Comments

• Print

Topics

Broward County, Cynthia Imperato, Drinking, DUI / DWI, Flori-duh, Florida, Gisele Pollack, Lynn Rosenthal, Peter Weinstein, Robert Jesionek, State Judges

27 May 2014 at 5:33 PM

Drinking, DUI / DWI, State Judges

Three Judges From Same Court Busted For DWI

By Joe Patrice

One is an outlier. A sad reminder of the legal profession’s struggle with alcoholism. Two is a curiosity. Perhaps a coincidence? But when three judges, all from the same court, get charged with DWI over the course of a mere six months, you’re looking at a trend.
Just this morning, the third judge in this trend was handcuffed and led away from the scene of an accident. In this case, the courtroom parking lot. That’s right, she’s accused of running over the gate to the lot and then ramming a parked sheriff’s car.
At 8:00 a.m.
There must have been an awesome special on mimosas at the local IHOP knockoff….

Apparently the Broward County Courthouse is the place to be if you want to get riggety riggety wrecked, son! This morning was Judge Lynn Rosenthal’s turn to see how the other half of her criminal courtroom lives when she gets booked at the Broward Main Jail. There are scant details of the accident so far, but everyone agrees that a sheriff’s vehicle was hit, and they’re blaming Judge Rosenthal, a Governor Scott appointee facing an electoral challenge this year from the happiest person in Florida today.
But what makes this story interesting is the fact that Broward County judges can’t seem to get away from defending themselves against drunk driving charges. The Broward County bar must be excellent… and I’m sure they have some good lawyers too.
The trend kicked off back in November when Judge Cynthia Imperato was pinched for drunk driving after a fellow motorist called 911:

“He’s all over the road,” said a caller who phoned 911 at 9:49 p.m. Tuesday to report seeing an erratic white Mercedes-Benz turn onto Northeast Second Street from Federal Highway.
“He nearly sideswiped me twice. He’s gotta be drunk,” the caller, who said he wasn’t sure if the driver was male or female, said. “He’s really dangerous.”
It was nearly an hour later and less than three miles away when police witnessed the erratically driven white Mercedes-Benz for themselves, a police report said.
Imperato, a judge since 2003, refused to take a breath test after she was pulled over shortly before 11 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Palmetto Park Road, the report said.
She was in the driver’s seat with her window rolled down and was attempting to use her cellphone when Officer Robert Jesionek approached, the report said.
When he asked Imperato if she knew why he stopped her, Imperato said “she was weaving,” the report said.
“I could smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath. Her eyes were red and glassy. Her speech was slow and slurred. Her face was red and flush,” Jesionek wrote.
Jesionek set up his in-car camera and asked Imperato to get out of her car, but she refused and said she was calling her attorney, the report said. Jesionek observed that she “was having problems dialing any numbers.”

The video of the incident was eventually released, and despite the characterization of the commentators that she was “uncooperative,” she sounds like she just wants to talk to her lawyer and refuses to comply with the police’s standard operating BS of asking directed questions hoping a suspect will “voluntarily” do something they aren’t prepared to order her to do. She’s not only a judge but a former prosecutor and a former cop, so I think she knew exactly what she was doing.

At the time, Chief Judge Peter Weinstein said he had “no specific protocol in place dictating how to handle a judge in this situation.” He may want to invest some time in developing one. Starting with a designated driver program.
Judge Gisele Pollack was arrested on May 1 after a car crash. In that accident, another driver was injured, prompting Pollack to be charged with four counts of DUI and failure to use due care. Just days ago, the Supreme Court of Florida suspended Pollack for allegedly violating the code of judicial conduct. She certainly sounds like she was drinking on the job based on audio tapes that caught her making slurred and somewhat off-kilter comments in open court:

The news channel, because it’s awful local news, fixates on questioning whether someone with an acknowledged history of addiction should be hearing drug cases. Actually, that sounds like an ideal person to be hearing drug cases, especially if, like Judge Pollack, she’d managed to stay sober for 20 years. Hopefully her suspension will give her an opportunity to get back on track — if not to return to the bench, then at least to get her life sorted out.
Not hanging around her colleagues might be a terrific start.
Broward judge arrested on DUI charge in courthouse parking lot [Sun Sentinel]
Judge Lynn Rosenthal Wreaks Havoc In Courthouse Parking Lot Before DUI Arrest [Daily Business Review]
Broward Judge Gisele Pollack accused of drunken driving in crash that sent man to hospital [Sun Sentinel]
Broward Judge Cynthia Imperato charged with DUI [Sun Sentinel]

31 Comments

• Print

Topics

Broward County, Cynthia Imperato, Drinking, DUI / DWI, Flori-duh, Florida, Gisele Pollack, Lynn Rosenthal, Peter Weinstein, Robert Jesionek, State Judges

12 Dec 2013 at 5:47 PM

Cars, Crime, Drinking, DUI / DWI, Kids, Sentencing Law, White People

In Defense Of The Rich White Boy Who Killed Four People And Got Away With It

By Elie Mystal and Joe Patrice

(A stock photo of a teen driver — not actually Ethan Couch.)

I’m sure that by now you’ve all heard the story about the wealthy white teenager who killed four people while drunk driving. As we mentioned in yesterday’s Non-Sequiturs, 16-year-old Ethan Couch got off — sentenced to therapy — because the judge agreed that the kid was a victim of “affluenza”: his parents gave him everything he wanted, and he believed that being rich meant that he wouldn’t have to face consequences for his actions.
The kid’s not wrong; the fact that he’s not facing incarceration for killing four people kind of proves the point. A poor white kid would be in jail right now. A rich black kid would be in jail right now. A poor black kid would be picking out items for his last supper right now. Anybody who thinks that this kind of lenience would be given to anybody other than a wealthy white dauphin is wrong and stupid (and probably racist). The rich kid isn’t in jail because rich people don’t suffer the full force of consequences for their actions.
That said… the judge isn’t wrong either. When you have a jerk-off prick of a 16-year-old, as this kid appears to be, it’s probably not his fault. Not really. My outrage isn’t that Couch is getting off, it’s that so many other teens and young people are being incarcerated without this kind of compassion.
Not that there aren’t people who deserve jail time behind this. It’s just that those people are Couch’s parents….
Continue reading “In Defense Of The Rich White Boy Who Killed Four People And Got Away With It”

74 Comments

• 
• Print

• Tags: #richpeopleproblems, affluenza, Bad Parents, Cars, Crime, Drinking, DUI, DUI / DWI, Ethan Couch, Homicide, Kids, Parenting, Parents, Rich People, Sentencing, Sentencing Law, Teenagers, White People

Massachusetts man who authorities say plotted to kill and eat his children

13 Sep 2013 at 4:28 PM

American Constitution Society (ACS), Crime, DUI / DWI, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Jury Duty, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Religion, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

Non-Sequiturs: 09.13.13

By Joe Patrice

* A lawyer fresh out of law school botched a domestic violence case by gushing all over Tom Hanks… who was serving as a juror. Which, in fairness, was awfully Big of him. [TMZ]
* Federal prosecutors are seeking at least 27 years in prison for a Massachusetts man who authorities say plotted to kill and eat his children based on a search of his home and car, which is presumably a Saturn. As one law professor observed, “Perhaps the lawyer will make a free exercise argument and claim that eating children is a requirement of his religion.” [CNN]
* If you’re going to drink and drive, be sure to toss a few back with the judge first. [KVUE]
* A criminal defense lawyer who begins every cross by making the cop look more humane and respectable. I thought the public defender from My Cousin Vinny was the lowest criminal defense could go in the comical incompetence department. [Katz Justice]
* Putin crony claims 100 percent of profits in a “public” oil company by flat ignoring minority shareholders. Shhhh! Stop giving Exxon ideas. [Breaking Energy]
* Elizabeth Wurtzel knows music (a subject she covered for the New Yorker for New York Magazine). In this article, she writes about The Replacements (something Wurtzel has made her past employers, including Boies Schiller, become familiar with). [The Daily Beast]
* On Monday, the American Constitution Society will host a preview of the upcoming Supreme Court session. Panelists include Pamela Harris, Randy Barnett, Joshua Civin, Andrew Pincus, and David Strauss. [American Constitution Society]
* Then next Tuesday, The Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies will host a symposium titled “The Supreme Court: Past and Prologue: A Look at the October 2012 and 2013 Terms.” Panelists include Tom Goldstein, Marcia Coyle, and Howard Bashman. [How Appealing]