Justices disciplined

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct released public censures Wednesday in unrelated cases against a village court justice in Dutchess County and a town court justice in Jefferson County. 

The commission determined that Robert P. Apple, a Pawling Village Court justice, should be censured for driving after consuming alcohol in excess of the legal limit, resulting in a minor accident and his conviction for Driving While Intoxicated. The commission said that such conduct is “inconsistent with a judge’s obligation to maintain high standards of conduct at all times, both on and off the bench.”

It also determined that Robin J. Curtis, a Lyme Town Court justice, should be censured for unlawfully issuing two orders of protection based upon improper ex parte communications and, shortly before the orders were due to expire, issuing two additional orders without any legal basis. The commission said that, as a judge for almost two decades, Justice Curtis should have realized he lacked the authority to issue an order of protection in the absence of a pending criminal proceeding.

The determinations can be found on the commission’s website, www.cjc.ny.gov.