Kevin E. Fiske, who has served as a justice in Stockholm since 2023, stepped down after the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct filed formal disciplinary charges alleging improper conduct both in and out of the courtroom.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\nHis resignation took effect Feb. 20 and includes an agreement that he will never again serve as a judge.<\/p>\n
Commission Administrator Robert\u00a0 Tembeckjian said the conduct outlined in the charges strikes at the core of the judicial system.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic confidence in a fair and impartial court is undermined when the judge decides a case after hearing one side without notice to the other,\u201d Tembeckjian said. \u201cNor does it promote respect for the law when a judge endorses vigilantism.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to documents released by the commission, Fiske was accused of repeatedly engaging in unauthorized communications,\u00a0 speaking with defendants without prosecutors present.<\/p>\n
He was also accused of dismissing or reducing charges without notice or consent from the prosecution.<\/p>\n
“In nine cases, he engaged in unauthorized ex parte conversations with defendants and, in each instance, dismissed or reduced the charges without notice to or the consent of the prosecution,” the release says.<\/p>\n
In one instance cited by investigators, Fiske acknowledged the potential consequences of his actions on the record, stating, \u201cI\u2019ll probably get in trouble for that but, I don\u2019t care. What are they going to do to me, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiske also faced scrutiny over posts made to his public Facebook page, where investigators said he shared content reflecting bias and views inconsistent with judicial impartiality, a release from the commission said.<\/p>\n
Among the posts cited were statements suggesting skepticism of legal protections and rhetoric interpreted as endorsing vigilantism.<\/p>\n
The commission also found Fiske improperly used his position to promote private business interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His businesses were listed on the official Stockholm Town Court website, and his role as a judge was referenced on business-related social media pages, court documents show.<\/p>\n
Fiske waived confidentiality rules to allow the disciplinary stipulation and the commission\u2019s order to be made public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The agreement was executed Feb. 9 and accepted by the commission on March 12.<\/p>\n
He had been elected to a term set to expire at the end of 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STOCKHOLM \u2014 A Stockholm town justice has resigned from the bench following a series of misconduct charges that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[8755,8754,8764,8765,8748,8766,8760,8751,8761,8750,1453,8752,8749,8747,8762,8753,8763,8767,131,8769,8768,132,8758,8759,8757,8756],"class_list":{"0":"post-42376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-adirondack-foothills","9":"tag-adirondacks","10":"tag-alcoa","11":"tag-arconic","12":"tag-canton","13":"tag-clarkson-university","14":"tag-fishing","15":"tag-gouverneur","16":"tag-hunting","17":"tag-massena","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-north-country","20":"tag-ogdensburg","21":"tag-potsdam","22":"tag-snowmobiling","23":"tag-st-lawrence-county","24":"tag-st-lawrence-seaway","25":"tag-st-lawrence-university","26":"tag-stockholm","27":"tag-suny-canton","28":"tag-suny-potsdam","29":"tag-sweden","30":"tag-village-of-canton","31":"tag-village-of-massena","32":"tag-village-of-norwood","33":"tag-village-of-potsdam"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116247842144628948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}