Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, above, said a munucipal judge’s “disturbing” misconduct undermined public confidence in the judge and in the judicial system at large. (Mary Iuvone for New Jersey Monitor)
The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered a longtime municipal judge removed from the bench Monday for touching his clerk’s leg without consent during a boozy encounter at his beach home.
A judicial conduct advisory committee recommended a year ago that R. Douglas Hoffman, a longtime, part-time municipal judge in Robbinsville, be removed for “demeaning his judicial office” during the 2022 incident at his Long Beach Island home.
But Hoffman, a judge in Robbinsville since 2010, denied any sexual intent, complained that removal was too excessive, and challenged the punishment to the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, writing for a unanimous court, upheld his removal, saying his “disturbing” misconduct undermined public confidence in him and in the judicial system at large.
“All judges know there is no place for sexual misconduct or harassment in the judicial system,” Rabner wrote. “Today we make clear that egregious violations of that rule will result in removal from office and not a period of suspension.”
Hoffman also began serving as a part-time judge in New Hanover, Wrightstown, Mansfield, Springfield, and Southampton in 2022.
After Hoffman invited his staff to his shore home, his clerk, identified in the ruling only by her initials, accepted the offer on Oct. 15, 2022. Once there, they drank beer and shots of liquor until the woman, then 27, got drunk, while Hoffman, then 75, quizzed her about her sexual relationship with her boyfriend and urged her to dump him, according to the ruling. He then touched her twice, on her knee and inner thigh, prompting her to leave “within 5 seconds” and report the encounter to her supervisor the same day, the ruling notes.
She told the supervisor Hoffman slid his hand up her inner thigh to her crotch, but Hoffman told court investigators he didn’t know where he touched her leg.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t watching. I’m patting, not watching, but I’ve got a big hand,” he told them. “These (were) reassuring taps … Why do I need permission for that?”
The clerk resigned her job soon afterward to avoid Hoffman, feared going out in public in case she ran into him, and told the committee she still had nightmares about the incident a year afterward, the ruling says.
Rabner agreed with the committee that Hoffman’s behavior was “blatant and severe” and his demeanor when testifying about the incident in court proceedings “was flippant and betrayed a palpable disrespect for the judicial disciplinary process.”
Hoffman had argued that his behavior was “significantly less egregious” than that of other judges who got suspensions for sexual harassment scandals dating back to 1993. He should not be disciplined under “ill-defined notions of evolving community standards,” he said.
Rabner rejected that defense, too.
“Today, judges of the Superior Court receive mandatory training on the prevention of sexual harassment when they are appointed to the bench and refresher courses thereafter. They are also required to certify annually that they have reviewed and understand the Judiciary’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies,” Rabner wrote. “Municipal court judges receive similar training; they are subject to policies and training at the municipal level.”
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