Appeals Court Backs Removal of Judge

A New York City judge, under fire for his handling of domestic abuse cases and for courtroom behavior that included telling a prosecutor she would look better in shorter skirts, was removed from the bench by the state’s highest court. The New York Court of Appeals in Albany voted, 5 to 2, to oust 51-year-old Criminal Court Judge Lorin Duckman, agreeing with a judicial conduct commission that he had abused his power and mishandled cases. Duckman had been a judge since 1991. In the case that triggered the controversy, Duckman released an ex-convict on bail in 1996 over the objections of the man’s battered girlfriend. A few weeks later, the ex-convict killed his girlfriend and himself.