| ► Judge Paul Buchanan of Buffalo, NY; ethical gremlin |
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Judge Paul Buchanan of Buffalo, NY; ethical gremlin
The state of New York provided Paul G. Buchanan with a law license in 1989 after he graduated from Buffalo University Law School.
In 2004, Paul succeeded in duping the voters in Erie County, New York into electing him as a judge on the Family Court in Buffalo.
The New York Judicial Commission found Judge Buchanan guilty of the following misconduct.
From September 2009 through January 2010, Buchanan presided over a juvenile delinquency case involving a 14-year-old girl.
In November 2009, Buchanan ordered that the girl be released to the custody of her mother. 10 days later, the girl was taken to the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) and then to the Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo for treatment due to an overdose of prescription medication. In December 2009, the girl was taken back to ECMC and placed in a psychiatric unit for treatment and observation.
Within days of learning of the girl’s overdose and hospitalization, Buchanan visited with her along for 15 minutes in the psychiatric unit at ECMC. Buchanan gave her an age appropriate book and cookies he had purchased for her and told her that her mother and grandmother loved her and she had a lot to live for.
Of course Buchanan neither notified nor sought authorization from the girl’s mother, doctor, attorney or attorney for the presentment agency, for his psychiatric unit visit.
In early January 2010, attorney Amy M. McCabe, the presentment agency attorney, filed a motion seeking to Buchanan’s removal from the matter because of his illegal ex parte psychiatric visit. Attorney Jeffrey M. Priore did not oppose the motion on the girl’s behalf.
While presiding over the matter in mid-January 2010, Buchanan failed to acknowledge his private meeting with the girl and went on to reserve a decision on attorney McCabe’s recusal motion. Buchanan then addressed the pending issues in the case, signed an order directing secure detention, and adjourned the case to March 2010.
In another matter, Judge Buchanan found it acceptable to berate attorneys appearing before him in child custody cases. He routinely refused to allow the cross-examination of witnesses by opposing counsel. It was obvious that he enjoyed acting as a pompous ass while treating his oath of office with total contempt.
As a consequence of his misconduct, the apologists for Judicial Misfits sitting on the Judicial Commission punished Judge Buchanan by gifting him with a complimentary admonishment.
As we speak (ca. January 2013) Judge Buchanan remains sitting on the bench as a Family Court Judge in Erie County, New York.
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