ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC-TV) - "City Court Judge Leticia Astacio is no longer reporting to work at the Hall of Justice in Rochester claiming her work conditions have negatively impacted her health.
Her attorney, Mark Young, says she has submitted a doctor’s note that makes it clear the circumstances are not good for her health and she will not be showing up for work.
Administrative Judge Craig Doran says, “Astacio has not reported to her work location since late August to fulfill her required judicial responsibilities which were set forth in a meeting I had with her on June 5.”
In response, Young said her health deteriorated after Doran removed her from her chambers and declared she would no longer hear cases following her DWI conviction last August and the subsequent conditional discharge violation.
In early June, Astacio was sent to jail for missing a test that detects alcohol consumption and a court hearing.
To read more on that episode, click here.
Young says Astacio has been handed assignments like mortgage cases, which are usually handled by clerks.
“The courts have made it almost impossible to do her job which she was elected to do and she still has her law license,” Young said. “They’ve taken her secure pass, she’s subject to random searches, and they relegated her to pretty much a broom closet in the library. They don’t treat her like a judge and it has affected her physically and emotionally. She has made her supervising judge aware of everything she is doing.”
The photo attached to this story is of the work space in the law library in which Astacio has been working.
This is the room in the Hall of Justice library in which Judge Astacio has been given to work.
Doran says Asticio “has not fully complied with the requirements set forth (in June) and we are taking appropriate administrative action in response.”
He added the rules he laid out “contained a provision to request to be excused from the responsibilities for illness or other compelling circumstances.”
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct is reviewing her case."