There was disorder in Bronx Criminal Court last week when officials effectively benched three in-house judges in favor of a trio of out-of-town jurists brought in to deal with a huge case backlog, insiders said.
The bizarre arrangement, ordered by the state Office of Court Administration, left three hardworking local judges effectively twiddling their thumbs as the three visitors took over, courthouse insiders said.
“They didn’t want the three visiting judges sitting around doing nothing, so they benched three in-house judges,” one insider fumed.
Another source said, “Right now, we have three judges earning $150,000 a year just sitting in their chambers doing nothing because OCA came up with this brilliant plan — but neglected to give us the support staff.”
Anger over the situation mounted Friday as word spread in the East 161st Street courthouse that the out-of-town judges were being driven there from a posh Midtown hotel by a court officer at taxpayer expense.
OCA spokesman David Bookstaver said the officer was assigned as their chauffeur because of security concerns.
The courthouse “activity sheet” shows that from last Monday to Friday, Bronx Judges Miriam Best, Seth Marvin and Raymond Bruce were inactive in their courtrooms.
The same document shows Onondaga County Judge John Brunetti, who was occupying Best’s courtroom, spent the week selecting a jury for a trial that began Thursday.
Albany County Judge Joseph Teresi, who was sitting in the courtroom assigned to Bruce, was also engaged in jury selection for a trial that began Wednesday.
And Albany County Judge Thomas Breslin began a trial Friday.
The game of musical judges stems from the OCA’s program to bring 10 nonlocal judges into the Bronx courthouse to get more than 900 lingering felony cases resolved.
Brooklyn Judge Patricia DiMango — leader of the judicial “SWAT” team sent to The Bronx to clear the backlog — has already cleared nearly 100 of the cases.
But the arrival of the judges from Albany and Syracuse exposed the plan’s support-staffing flaw, sources said.
“How can you exponentially increase the [judicial bench staff] without exponentially increasing the support staff of court clerks and court officers?” asked one bewildered defense lawyer.
Bookstaver denied the in-house judges had been benched.
“We have sufficient resources for the judges who are from other counties and for the judges who are assigned to the Bronx courthouse,” he said. “To suggest otherwise is false.”
But Joseph Walsh, president of the New York State Court Clerks Association, noted that over the past two years, the OCA cut the number of clerk positions in the city from 1,750 to 1,530.
Even without the imported judges, “we don’t have enough clerks in The Bronx as it is,” Walsh said.