“An intense romantic fling” with a public defender in the spring of 2009 has landed Albuquerque District Judge Bob Schwartz in a sticky situation.
The 60-year-old judge stands accused of:
Failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary; failing to avoid impropriety; failing to recuse himself from the pending cases involving the defender; and of not conducting “extra-judicial activities as to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial obligations”.
So what did he do? On what would be his first date with the aforementioned 29-year-old assistant public defender, Schwartz presented her with a gift, two actually, one was a copy of the book The One Hour Orgasm, authored by a man of the same name, with his official picture (complete with judicial robe) pasted in place of the author’s. The other gift was a pair of purple latex gloves.
The assistant public defender didn’t seem to mind, as she accompanied him to a concert in Santa Fe the next day. At the concert he told her that he would recuse himself from her cases. He did so, but not until some time later, on July 19, 2009.
He offered the following explanation:
This I’m sure happens to every judge at some point, but this is for me, a definite moment of indecisiveness. I don’t know what the right call is in this case, I really don’t, and so I shall not be allowed in this case and let another judge take a look.
He went on to recuse himself from all of her cases but apparently the assistant public defender did not like the way that it was done – prompting her to end the relationship, and (presumably) spill the beans on his bizarre and hilarious “gag” gift. He put his unusual behavior down to a change in medication that he was taking to treat a chronic illness.
The New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission made an unsympathetic appraisal of his actions and recommended that Schwartz be suspended without pay for 60 days, receive a formal public reprimand, and that he complete a course on sexual harassment (something of which he wasn’t actually accused). They also said that he must leave the bench in “future medical transitions”. The recommendation will go before the Supreme Court.
Schwartz and his attorney, Paul Kennedy, plan to fight the punishment. Kennedy noted:
We think the punishment is disproportionate to the allegations, and we are confident of a full and fair review by the Supreme Court.
[ABQ Journal]
