Saratoga Family Court judge removed from the bench-- repeatedly sent people to jail from his court while denying them fundamental rights, such as the right to representation and the right to a hearing.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Saratoga-Family-Court-judge-removed-from-the-bench-799828.php

Saratoga Family Court judge removed from the bench

By LEIGH HORNBECK Staff Writer

ALBANY -- The state Commission on Judicial Conduct removed former Family Court JudgeGilbert Abramson from office, six weeks after the judge abruptly stepped down.

By issuing the ruling, the commission said despite Abramson's failure to win reelection and his resignation in September, it was not enough. The commission's ruling means Abramson may never serve as a judge again.

A two-year investigation found Abramson repeatedly sent people to jail from his court while denying them fundamental rights, such as the right to representation and the right to a hearing.

The investigation found that in four separate cases, litigants served from 21 to 268 days in jail after the judge flouted the law.

Robert Tembeckjian, legal counsel for the commission, said it is rare but not unheard of for a judge to be formally removed event after he or she has stepped down.

"The board members thought it was in the public benefit to let it be known what happened in the courtroom. He resigned near the very end of a long process," Tembeckjian said.

The commission also found Abramson on two separate occasions made "egregious and inexcusable" comments of a sexual nature to a woman in his courtroom because of a design on the T-shirt she was wearing.

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