Administrators recommended Tuesday that Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio be removed from office following her few-year string of unruly behavior.
The announcement was made by New York State Commission administrators who said the suspended Astacio will get to keep her $187,200 salary while she awaits news of the final decision.
Astacio had been arrested over two years ago for drinking and driving. She mouthed off to an officer, who she told to ‘mind his own f—ing business’ while also attempting to use her position to her advantage.
Following her DUI arrest, the judge neglected court orders and instead went on a trip to Thailand.
‘Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio should be removed from office,’ New York State Commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian said in a statement.
Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio may be removed from office, officials say. The judge spoke to WHAM-TV about the matter this week
The judge in January 2015 encouraged police to ‘shoot’ and ‘punch’ a teenage girl who was causing them troubles by acting out while being taken into the court room for a hearing.
During another hearing, Astacio cackled while listening to a defendant’s lawyer say his client’s alleged victim had ‘buyer’s remorse’.
In yet another incident, the judge led an arraignment of one of her former clients, Tembekcjian said.
Tembeckjian added in the statement the commission had only learned of Astacio’s other outbursts after she was arrested for the DUI.
In an interview with WHAM-TV, Astacio said: ‘I have my own opinions of why they made the decision. Sometimes the more media attention the case gets, the more punishment is given.’
‘Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio should be removed from office,’ New York State Commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian said
Tembeckjian added in the statement the commission had only learned of Astacio’s other outbursts after she was arrested for the DUI
She added: ‘I’ve always wanted to do my job and that’s why I ran for it. The City of Rochester voted me in.
‘It is a very odd thing to see when the voters will is subverted by a group of individuals who decide they know what the voters want better than they do.’
Tembeckjian expressed the judge’s response to her wrongdoings as alarming.
‘That tends to make an impression on the commission… because if a judge doesn’t recognize their wrongdoing, doesn’t accept responsibility for their wrongdoing, then there’s every likelihood to expect that that misconduct will recur,’ he said.
‘This particular case, in our experience, I think is in a class by itself.’
Astacio now has 30 days to accept the commission’s decision or appeal to it.
Astacio is pictured left in her mugshot and smiling left in an undated photo. She has 30 days to accept the commission’s decision or appeal