| ► Judge Jaime Rios of Queens, NY: adulterer, liar, ethically in-the-tank |
 |
 |
|
Judge Jaime Rios of Queens, NY: adulterer, liar, ethically in-the-tank
 
Judge Jamie Rios unfortunately sits as a justice on the Supreme Court in Queens County, Jamaica, New York.
In late 2005, Judge Jaime Rios (married) was charged with carrying on a torrid affair with a female prosecutor while handing out special favors to the DA’s office, including tips on how to win a murder trial, according to his former legal secretary Judith Memblatt.
Ms. Memblatt says she was fired after saying her former boss, Rios was “unfit to sit as a judge” because
of an illicit affair with Assistant District Attorney Meryl Lutsky. She said she chronicled the illicit affair
because she worried it was undermining the rights of defendants prosecuted in Rios’ court.
 
Memblatt said that Rios acted as “an unofficial adviser” to members of the Queens DA’s office as a favor for ignoring his affair with Lutsky. “Basically, they were willing to do anything to rush to the judge’s side and cover for him rather than determine if there was a real impropriety. That kind of put them in the position of covering for the judge. He was beholden to them,” Memblatt said.
Memblatt also said there were incidents in court when Rios openly flirted with Lutsky and on one occasion boldly asked her “how many bedrooms there were in her apartment.” “They both started giggling,” Memblatt wrote in a letter to the Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC). As usual, the commission told her they
weren’t going to investigate. I was under the impression that porking a court employee was considered an acceptable “judicial perk” in New York courts.
Judge Rios Fixing Murder Case
Ms. Memblatt said Judge Jamie Rios secretly coached prosecutor Eugene Reibstein in a murder case resulting in a conviction. “When I saw Mr. Reibstein enter the chambers, and when I heard what the judge was discussing, I was just sick to my stomach over it,” she said. Defense lawyers are demanding a new trial based on Rios’ egregious misconduct.
“This situation so grossly compromised the rights of the defendants and destroyed the integrity of the proceedings that to ignore its existence would have been unethical,” Memblatt said.
Lutsky, vehemently denied the allegations. “That’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely untrue. I am categorically
denying it. I don’t like my name being besmirched.
Defense attorney Ron Kuby, said, “Generally, I don’t care who Judge Rios is screwing as long as he’s not screwing my client. But the conclusion that Judith (Memblatt) has drawn is that the judge’s long-term improper sexual relationship created the conditions of favoritism to the DA’s office.”
Conclusion
It would be impossible for the other judges and attorneys on the Queens payroll to not have known about Judge Rios’ conduct.
If in fact the DA’s office “remained silent” in order to curry favors from Rios to obtain convictions, then Rios and every DA involved should be criminally prosecuted and permanently disbarred, and every case they were involved in should be tossed out and/or re-examined.
Of course this isn’t likely to ever happen since Judicial and Attorney Misfits are held to a lower standard of conduct then we are.
|