The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, in a 56-page presentment made public Friday, found "clear and convincing" evidence that Judge Gerald Council inappropriately touched a court employee twice.
TRENTON - A state judicial committee has recommended that Mercer County Presiding Judge Gerald Council be suspended for one month without pay and possibly removed from his leadership role for inappropriately touching and demeaning a subordinate.
The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, in a 56-page presentment made public Friday, found "clear and convincing" evidence that Council inappropriately touched a court employee twice, which led to her being demeaned, belittled and publicly humiliated.
The committee said another incident, in which Council allegedly "shushed" the employee in front of colleagues and put his hand in front of her mouth, was not proven.
And while the committee found Council's use of nicknames - toward other employees and defendants - were troubling, the committee found they did not constitute conduct for which Council should be punished.
Council has been accused of calling the woman he touched, "my problem child," another staffer "little pet" and a man who had hip surgery "hop along."
The matter now goes to the state Supreme Court, where Council will have a chance to argue why he should not be disciplined. Oral arguments are scheduled for December.
The incidents in which Council allegedly touched the employee, identified only as A.J, occurred in a two-week period in 2012 during and after sessions of Mercer County Drug Court, a diversionary program.
The first, during a social event for a new judge in the courthouse, witnesses told the committee that Council put his hand on A.J's upper back in an effort to move her out of the room and directed her to get back to work.
Council singled the employee out, and one colleague who witnessed it said to another, "Wow, you believe what he just did that to her?"
The second incident, which the committee found more egregious, occurred after a drug court staff meeting. Council grabbed A.J.'s ear and pulled her from the room, saying, "come on, come on," the committee alleges.
One witness heard council refer to the employee as, "my troubled child" as he led her out.
"By virtue of (Council's) misconduct, A.J. was purposefully and publicly humiliated and, thereafter, displaced from her position as coordinator in the Mercer County Drug Court program, a job she, by all accounts, performed well," the committee wrote.
And, the committee wrote of Council touching A.J., "Irrespective of its sexual nature, that touching was nonetheless offensive, publicly humiliating, and highly inappropriate particularly for one holding the title of jurist."
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While the committee recommended Council not be discipline for his use of nicknames, they found he did use them, some more than others.
Council called novice drug court employees, "grasshoppers," referred to a female employee as "Mama Johnson," although it was a name the woman gave her, and the man he called "hop along."
Most were terms of endearment and the people did not take offense, the committee said.
Council also referred to drug court defendants by names they preferred, like "Pretty Ricky" and "Sexy Chocolate," but witnesses bolstered the claims that the defendants preferred their nicknames.
And Council called one defendant before the court "Farmer Mosely," because he was charged with growing marijuana. He called another defendant a "cry baby."
The committee said the nicknames are "at best sarcastic, at worst disparaging," and have no place in the courtroom.
"Terms that serve to disparage and undermine the Judiciary, its members, users and the justice system as a whole, should be assiduously avoided particularly by jurists who serve as the foremost bastion of judicial integrity and impartiality."
Council has denied most of the allegations, and the committee took him to task for the way he defended himself before the committee.
"Throughout these proceedings, (Council) has denied any wrongdoing, claiming no recollection of his own conduct , and attacking veracity of those who testified, casting them as malcontents and liars," the committee said.
"We find this exceedingly troubling, and a substantially aggravating factor in assessing the appropriate, quantum of discipline for (Council's) ethical breaches."
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
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