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Judiciary

Judge, aka ‘Sal Tortorella’ on TikTok, gets unpaid suspension for lip-syncing videos

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 10, 2024, 8:41 am CDT

A judge in Bergen County, New Jersey, in initially thought that posting videos of himself lip-syncing songs on TikTok “seemed like silly, harmless and innocent fun.”

Judge Gary N. Wilcox of Bergen County, New Jersey, opened a TikTok account using the alias “Sal Tortorella” during the COVID-19 shutdown. His understanding was that he could replay song segments that were lip-synced and posted by others and then lip-sync them in his videos.

Wilcox explained his thinking in his August 2023 answer to an ethics complaint that took issue with the lyrics that he lip-synced and some of the locations that were backdrop—his chambers, the courthouse and his bed. His attire included his judicial robes and a Beavis and Butt-Head T-shirt. He was only partly dressed in the bedroom video.

Now, Wilcox has consented to discipline and stipulated that he violated ethics rules requiring judges to observe high standards of integrity, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and to conduct extrajudicial activities in a way that does not demean the judicial office.

In an Oct. 7 order, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered a three-month unpaid suspension that was set to begin Oct. 8.

The Legal Profession Blog noted the order and allegations in the ethics complaint. Law360 and Bloomberg Law are among the publications with coverage.

The June 30, 2023, ethics complaint had alleged that the lyrics that Wilcox lip-synced included references “to violence, sex and misogyny.”

In one video, Wilcox recorded himself walking in the courthouse while “Get Down” by rapper Nas played in the background. According to the ethics complaint, the song “contains explicit lyrics concerning a criminal case and a courtroom shooting, as well as derogatory and discriminatory terms, drug and gang references, and the killing of a doctor in a hospital who treated another gang member.”

In another video, Wilcox lip-synced “Jump” by singer Rihanna, with these words: “If you want it let’s do it. Ride it, my pony. My saddle is waitin’, come and jump on it. If you want it, let’s do it.”

Wilcox is a graduate of Harvard Law School, a former federal prosecutor and a former partner at McCarter & English, according to prior coverage.

A lawyer for Wilcox told Law360 that, “Now that the court has spoken, we defer to the court.”

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Ethics

Judge’s tactics of ‘overzealous collection’ lead to unpaid suspension

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 25, 2024, 2:47 pm CDT

The Ohio Supreme Court has suspended an Ohio judge who deemed it to be impractical to comply with a law setting procedural safeguards for jailing people for failure to pay fines.

Judge Kim Richard Hoover of the Stow Municipal Court in Stow, Ohio, has been temporarily removed from office without pay and suspended from law practice for 18 months, with six months stayed as long as he commits no further misconduct. His suspension from office coincides with the duration of his law practice suspension.

Court News Ohio has a summary of the Sept. 24 opinion noted by the Legal Profession Blog.

Hoover jailed two men for failure to pay fines and costs and coerced 14 other criminal defendants with threats of incarceration, the state supreme court said.

Hoover “leaned into the idea of a debtors’ prison,” the state supreme court said in its decision.

The Ohio Constitution prevents jailing defendants for failure to pay court costs, which are a civil obligation, rather than a criminal sanction. In addition, an Ohio law bars jailing offenders for failure to pay fines unless they have an ability to pay. Under the law, defendants are entitled to procedural safeguards, including the opportunity to present evidence on the issue and the right to an attorney.

Judges are required to segregate fines from court costs and to give people imprisoned for willfully failing to pay fines a credit of $50 per day toward the fine.

Hoover “fully admitted” that he doesn’t follow the Ohio law “because the statute does not work effectively for him,” the Ohio Supreme Court said. “Hoover found that applying [the law] and holding ability-to-pay hearings was impractical.”

Hoover argued that the 16 highlighted cases don’t show how he ran his courtroom during his lengthy service as a judge. Indeed, he had an “unblemished career of nearly 40 years as a lawyer and judge,” a panel of the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct noted after a hearing. He also had created programs to educate and rehabilitate defendants.

Hoover also argued that he had jailed or threatened jail time for many of the 16 defendants because they had demonstrated that they were irresponsible in the past by failing to appear for court dates or by failing to pay fines and costs for past convictions. His goal, he said, was to get defendants on the right track and teach them responsibility.

He also said his collection tactics helped fund the Stow Municipal Court without burdening innocent taxpayers.

The Ohio Supreme Court detailed Hoover’s treatment of the 16 defendants, including two instances of improper incarceration.

In one case, a defendant was arrested and jailed after failing to show up for a hearing regarding nonpayment. The next day, the defendant told Hoover that he wouldn’t be paid until a certain date, and jail time would affect his employment.

“Yeah. It probably will. That’s the problem with screwing with me,” Hoover replied. “When it comes time, I don’t care. And that’s where we’re at right now.” Hoover sent the defendant to jail for seven days.

In another instance, a defendant was brought back to court after four days in jail. Hoover asked whether he had learned his lesson “about being a deadbeat.” The defendant said he had.

“When you don’t take my orders,” Hoover continued, “I put you in an orange suit and say just sit there and look at the walls.” The judge also warned the defendant that he had to pay the balance due in 30 days “or we’re gonna be talkin’ orange again.”

The state supreme court concluded that Hoover’s “overzealous collection of unsegregated fines and costs manifested a bias against those of lower socioeconomic status,” a bias that “was readily apparent during his interactions” with defendants.

“Moreover,” the Ohio Supreme Court said, “by disregarding statutorily required procedures to achieve his goals of teaching defendants ‘basic discipline‘ and ‘basic responsibility,’ Hoover acted in a manner that diminished the public’s confidence in the judiciary and was prejudicial to the administration of justice.”