The commission voted retroactively to remove former Onondaga County Family Court Judge Bryan Hedges, 65, for the 1972 incident, which took place before he was admitted to the bar and almost 13 years before he was elevated to the bench, reports the New York Law Journal. The judge resigned from his post five months ago.
Wire tap
The allegations first surfaced when the girl’s mother reported the matter to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick earlier this year. In March, Mr Hedges visited the mother -- who was wearing a wire arranged by Mr Fitzpatrick -- and allegedly conceded that his behaviour involving a single incident had been ‘abhorrent’, ‘totally wrong’, ‘indefensible’ and ‘very, very, very bad’.
In an unsigned majority decision, the court determined: ‘The nature of respondent's conduct involving an admitted sexual act with a defenceless child is abhorrent and not attenuated by the passage of time… This reflects adversely on his fitness to perform the duties of a judge and is prejudicial to the administration of justice notwithstanding that it predates his ascension to the bench.’
Appeal
Commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian said: ‘It is not common to remove a judge for behaviour that occurred years before taking the bench. But sexual misconduct with a child is so egregious that, even if it comes to light decades later, it must be addressed. An act of such moral turpitude undermines the integrity of the judiciary and disqualifies the perpetrator from being a judge.’
Mr Hedges' lawyer, Robert Julian of Utica, said his client would appeal the commission's recommendation to the state Appeal Court. Mr Hedges also released a brief statement saying he was ‘devastated’ by the commission's recommendation, adding that the allegations are ‘untrue’. Mr Hedges said: ‘The administrative process is deficient in terms of being a fair fact-finding procedure. I hope the Court of Appeals will reverse.’
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