THE REGION

THE REGION; Removal of Judge Is Urged by Panel

Jan. 29, 1983

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The state's Commission on Judicial Conduct today recommended that a town justice from Clinton County be removed from office for having ''routinely'' failed to advise defendants of their rights to counsel, pretrial hearings and trial by jury.

The commission said the part-time justice, Paul McGee of Peru Town Court, had bullied defendants into pleading guilty and paying fines by threatening to put them in jail.

It said also that Justice McGee had often found defendants who demanded a jury trial guilty anyway.

''We are going to appeal,'' said Justice McGee's attorney, Louis Wolfe of Plattsburgh. Mr. Wolfe called the ruling ''a grievous miscarriage of justice.'' The law allows 30 days to appeal the commission's ruling to the Court of Appeals.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section 1, Page 26 of the National edition with the headline: THE REGION; Removal of Judge Is Urged by Panel. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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