An alcoholic judge who showed up so drunk for work that he had to leave the bench has been given a sobering wakeup call by an state oversight panel.
Judge James Gilpatric of Kingston went on an alcohol and Benedryl binge the night before he worked as a lawyer during an Ulster County Family Court hearing on Sept. 1, 2004, according to the Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Later that day, Gilpatric – an admitted alcoholic, who relapsed after 10 years on the wagon – took the bench in Kingston City Court, but was too trashed to preside over any cases, the commission said in recommending the judge be censured.
Gilpatric, a judge since 1994, admitted himself to a 21-day rehabilitation program after the incident.
“The public is entitled to a judge who does not come to court while under the influence of alcohol, and litigants should not have to wonder whether a judge has fallen off the wagon on a particular court date,” the commission said in its ruling.
One commission member felt Gilpatric should not be excoriated for his relapse.
“I do not believe a judge, or anyone else for that matter, should be publicly sanctioned because of a one-time isolated failure to control an illness,” wrote Judge Thomas Klonick, who voted with one other commissioner for Gilpatric to receive a private reprimand.
(p. 21 in metro)