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A New Jersey judicial ethics
committee filed a Complaint against New Jersey associate Supreme
Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto on May 11, 1997 accusing him of violating certain Judicial Canons, and R. 4:15-8(a)(6)
which bars conduct that brings the judicial office into disrepute.
The Complaint stems from Justice Rivera-Soto's involvement with his
son's juvenile delinquency complaint filed in municipal court
against another high school football player accused of
harassment.
Rivera-Soto's son accused the captain
of the Haddonfield Memorial High School football team of assaulting
him during practice. According to the ethics committee complaint —
just the second ethics complaint filed against a state Supreme Court
justice in more than three decades — Rivera-Soto made phone calls or
wrote letters to team and school officials, the local police chief,
two judges and the Camden County prosecutor on behalf of his son.
At times, the ethics complaint
charged, Rivera-Soto alluded to his office while placing calls. When
introducing himself to a detective sergeant, Rivera-Soto handed out
his business card. He also asked a Camden County Superior Court
assignment judge to treat his charges the same as any other, but
asked him "to make certain his complaint received attention." He did
the same with Camden County's acting
prosecutor.
When a court hearing was delayed
without his knowledge or prior notice, Rivera-Soto allegedly asked a
court employee "if she knew who he was" and gave her a business
card, then wrote the presiding judge to complain about the
postponement.
“It
was never his purpose or intention to influence the acts of anyone
by reference to his judicial position," the response says of
Rivera-Soto. "His intent at all times was to avoid any appearance of
impropriety," and he regrets any misunderstanding.
Rivera-Soto admitted contacting the Haddonfield police chief, the
acting Camden County prosecutor, and judges in
the case. But, the response says, he did not mean to improperly
influence them and in one circumstance wrote to a judge on personal
letterhead bearing his name and home address.
A hearing on
this matter remains to be scheduled and conducted.
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