New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Faces The Heat in Judicial Ethics Charges
A New Jersey judicial ethics committee filed a Complaint against New Jersey associate Supreme Court Justice Roberto River-Soto on May 11, 2007 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 Rivero-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 hi...