Judicial watchdog disciplines two judges in Jefferson County

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The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has recommended that Antwerp town justices Donald F. Hull and Lucas J. Whitmore should be censured and admonished, respectively.

In separate determinations, the commission found that the judges in Jefferson County should be disciplined for their misconduct during an eviction proceeding.

Both judges agreed to the public disciplines.

Hull has been a justice since 1979.  His current term expires on Dec. 3, although he was recently re-elected to a four-year term starting Jan. 1.

Whitmore has been a justice since 2013. His current term expires on Dec. 31.

Neither judge is an attorney.

According to the commission, on Oct. 18, 2022, Hull presided in an eviction case in which one of the parties was of Mexican descent.

Hull permitted Whitmore to sit near the bench “and repeatedly interject himself in the proceeding,” according to the commission.

According to the commission, Whitmore asked questions and made statements about how long the tenants had been renting the apartment, their claim that the apartment needed repairs, whether they would guarantee to pay the rent, the rent his brother-in-law paid in Philadelphia and the possibility that the landlord would default on the mortgage if the tenants do not pay rent.

Hull ruled in favor of the landlord and ordered the tenant to vacate the premises within 30 days.

He talked about housing options with the tenants, telling them that the Department of Social Services “won’t put you on the streets.”

He told the tenant: “It’s illegal for them to do that. They have to put you up. If they can put Mexicans up in the Taj Mahal.”