Actually, this situation was like killing two birds with one stone. Justice is still alive (in some places)
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll...-1/FOSNEWS0415
Another article received in the e-mail (the link in the email is inactive/dead link)
"NH - Judge Coffey resigns
Monday, April 21, 2008 11:37 PM
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http://www.fosters. com/apps/ pbcs.dll/ article?AID= /20080421/ NEWS0201/ 102857429
Judge Coffey resigns
By NORMA LOVE
Associated Press Writer
Article Date: Monday, April 21, 2008
Resignation Letter
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ Embattled Judge Patricia Coffey resigned Monday after the New Hampshire Supreme Court had suspended her for three years, concluding she was complicit in a fraudulent property transfer and evasive and misleading to investigators.
The 54-year-old Coffey, a Superior Court judge in Rockingham County, has admitted helping shield her lawyer-husband' s assets as he was being disbarred three years ago. She said she realized then the state probably would demand that he pay thousands of dollars to cover the cost of investigating him.
A disciplinary committee recommended the court suspend her for three months, without pay, but the high court said that was not enough.
In her letter, Coffey said she was disappointed by the court's decision last week because it emphasized some evidence while ignoring other evidence.
"I have taken responsibility for what I did and I did try to deal honorably and in a forthright manner with counsel for the Professional Conduct Committee and the Judicial Conduct Committee," she wrote. "My regret is that my actions, when I was under extreme emotional duress, may have reflected poorly on the judicial system as a whole and on those people who strive daily to make that system work, and to them, I apologize."
Contacted by phone, Coffey declined to comment further.
Gov. John Lynch had said if Coffey didn't resign, the Legislature should remove her. A bill was filed to do that.
"To ensure the continued faith of the people in our judicial system, its judges must meet the highest standards of ethics and integrity, and follow the law at all times," Lynch said Monday after announcing her departure.
Chief Justice John Broderick, who did not participate in the court's decision to suspend Coffey, said "given recent events, I think she has made the correct decision to step down."
Coffey's husband, John Coffey, was disbarred in 2005 for exploiting an elderly client with dementia. Property he owned with his wife was transferred into a family trust four days before he was notified he had been found guilty of misconduct and would face discipline.
The justices found that Judge Coffey participated in a fraud by transferring the property, disregarded an explicit court order to repay the costs of her husband's disbarrment investigation, and was evasive and misleading about her actions.
The court's Judicial Conduct Committee investigates misconduct by judges and recommends punishment. The committee's recommendation for censure and a three-month suspension for Coffey was based, in part, on its conclusion that she had cooperated with the investigation. But the high court said the record showed she was "not completely forthright."
Judge Coffey, a judge since 1991, had told the panel she kept her distance from her husband's professional problems at the time so they wouldn't affect her work as a judge. She said she spoke to him about it only twice, and he seemed "cautiously optimistic" about the outcome. Around that time, she said she had been dealing with stressful family issues and wasn't thinking like a lawyer or judge but like a wife and concerned mother.
In its order disbarring John Coffey, the high court ordered him to pay for the investigation. He replied that he had no job and no property _ it already had been transferred to the trust _ and couldn't pay.
Judge Coffey also said later that the couple had no money to pay. However, the court wrote that the couple did not inform the conduct committee at the time that property had been transferred and that they had received $10,000 from a stock sale.
Seven weeks later, the couple made $176,000 by selling an office condo. She said later that proceeds were spent on living expenses and improvements to their home. Again, the court said, the conduct committee, which was waiting for payment, was not informed.
The court said the Coffeys spent at least $110,000 on improvements after it ordered them to repay the conduct committee.
This was not the first time that she was investigated. In 2006, a special panel investigated a complaint that Coffey dozed off repeatedly during court proceedings.
The panel concluded that she did not actually sleep on the bench, but briefly nodded off. That didn't affect the outcome of any trials or infringe anyone's rights, the committee found. However, as a result, Judge Coffey agreed to see diagnosis and treatment of any medical condition she might have and to have her courtroom randomly monitored."
Jerry Carlos
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