Another judge leaves bench in Jersey City scandal
by Ken Thorbourne
Wednesday October 10, 2007, 8:27 PM
Yet another Jersey City Municipal Court judge has been dis-robed.

Vincent Signorile, a full-time judge at the court for more than a decade, took an immediate leave of absence without pay today amid an ongoing state investigation into the improper dismissal of parking tickets.

Signorile's departure makes it five Jersey City justices who have either taken leave or resigned due the probe that began last month when two court employees were suspended based on allegations they fixed more than 65 of their own tickets.

The most prominent judge to give up the bench has been Chief Judge Wanda Molina, who on Sept. 21 resigned in the wake of allegations she improperly disposed of parking tickets issued to her female companion, according to law enforcement officials.

The judges have been falling like dominoes since, with Judges Victor Sison, Irwin Rosen, Pauline Sica, and now Signorile all taking leaves.

The state Attorney General's Office, the lead agency conducting the investigation, has refused to confirm or deny whether the judges' resignation and leaves are tied to "Ticketgate," but county and city officials have said the departures are all due to the probe.

Signorile, a former city councilman and one-time chief judge of the court, couldn't be reached for comment today.

In his 11 years on the bench, Signorile has been involved with a few notable cases, including the assault charge case against Michelle Rodriguez, the actress who starred in the movie "Girlfight" and got killed off on the hit TV show "Lost."

The Jersey City Heights roommate who charged Rodriguez with administering a beating that left her with swollen eye and laceration eventually dropped all the charges.

Just last month, Signorile meted out a stiff bail amount and stern lecture to an 18-year-old from Harlem accused of leading a wolfpack of teens in savagely beating a 60-year-old Jersey City man.

Displaying his not-to-be-trifled-with side back in 2000, Signorile threatened to hold the city's corporation counsel in contempt of court for not supplying the court with enough prosecutors.
With the recent departures, the burdened court has been relying on eight part-timers from other municipalities to fill in the gaps, said Trial Court Administrator Joseph Davis.

To rectify the situation, Mayor Jerramiah Healy has appointed four judges due to be sworn in tomorrow. The City Council was scheduled to approve Healy's appointments tonight.

The appointees are Radames (Ray) Velazquez Jr., a former Hudson County freeholder and current assistant county counsel; Margaret Marley, a Jersey City municipal attorney; Frank Babcock, a former assistant county counsel and an attorney in private practice; and Wilson Campbell, also an attorney in private practice.

All are Jersey City residents, as required by law.

"Every attorney would like at some point to experience being a judge," Velazquez said. "In light of what's been happening at the court, I am excited to do my part to build the public's trust in the court again."



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COMMENTS (2)Post a comment
Posted by salbovino on 10/11/07 at 10:20PM

And who appointed Judge Campbell to The Bench?
Your illustrious Mayor (Midas) Healy whose touch turns everything to s**tQuote:

Judge faces ethics charges after alleged affair with bailiff

A Jersey City Municipal Court Judge faces ethics charges after admitting to an affair with a court bailiff, according to a court paper filed HERE.

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/pres ... ormalComplaint_2_5_09.PDF

In the complaint, made public on Thursday by the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct and first reported by the New Jersey Law Journal, Jersey City Municipal Judge Wilson Campbell admitted to an affair from April to June of last year with Ann Kirolos, a bailiff assigned to his courtroom.

The affair came to light when Kirolos, as stated in the complaint, attempted suicide by overdosing on medication, and then told investigators that it was because she was "depressed" over the end of an "intimate relationship" between her and Campbell.

According to the complaint, Campbell made his admission in June 30 of last year to at a meeting with Hudson County Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli, Trial Court Administrator Joseph Davis, and Jersey City Municipal Court Chief Judge Nesle Rodriguez.

It says in the complaint that Kirolos was reassigned to another courtroom and placed on different hours so that she would no longer be working at the same time as Campbell.

But according to the complaint, Campbell may face ethics charges for violating the state's Code of Judicial Complaint, which require "judges to observe high standards of conduct" and "to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the judiciary."

Campbell has been a Municipal Court judge since 2007, when he was appointed as one of several judges meant to replace those who had resigned in the aftermath of a ticket-fixing scandal. ? Ricardo Kaulessar, Hudson Reporter

http://www.northbergenreporter.com/pa ... _story_left_column&open=&

Our Court is a den of iniquity !

REPENT !!!

An ethics complaint has been filed against Jersey City Municipal Court Judge Wilson Campbell, who allegedly had an affair with a bailiff assigned to his courtroom. The bailiff attempted suicide last June after breaking up with the Judge, according to the complaint filed by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct. The bailiff has been reassigned to another courtroom and Campbell continues to serve on the bench.

The incident occurred just weeks before former Jersey City Municipal Court Chief Judge Wanda Molina was indicted for fixing parking tickets. Molina is accused of dismissing eight parking tickets for a female companion. She stepped down last year during the initial investigation over ticket fixing, which netted half of Jersey City's municipal judges.

Three other Jersey City Judges have been charges with misconduct as part of the ticket fixing scandal: Victor Sison, Pauline Sica and Irwin Rosen. Also indicted was Virginia Pagan, a former court administrator who allegedly fixed 215 parking tickets for herself and her daughter.

http://www.politickernj.com/wallye/27 ... -city-judge-faces-scandal