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She is lucky she is Black (at least in this instance)

 

 

 

Judicial Panel Suspends Cofield For 240 Days

 

By MARK PAZNIOKAS And JON LENDER | The Hartford Courant 6:12 PM EST, February 9, 2009

 

E. Curtissa R. Cofield, the judge captured on video using racial epithets after her drunken-driving arrest, was suspended today for 240 days.

 

The Judicial Review Council unanimously found Cofield guilty on all five counts that she violated the Code of Judicial Conduct. The council's charges included invoking her position as a judge to influence and intimidate police, as well as violating the code by driving drunk and using disparaging, demeaning and racially inappropriate language.

 

Her actions, the council said in its charges, compromise the integrity, impartiality and independence of the judiciary. The council had the authority to impose sanctions up to a one-year suspension. It also could have recommend her permanent removal by the Connecticut Supreme Court.

 

"I think it's awfully harsh, but I think that they certainly did what they thought was right," Cofield said, after the decision was announced. Asked if she would appeal, she said, "No, I'm going to accept full responsibility for my actions."

 

Asked what she thought would have been a fair penalty, she noted that Hassett had "argued 60 days, and I think that was fair."

 

"I'm not happy with the decision,"" she said, "But it won't affect my ability to give justice to others."

 

With her career in the balance, Cofield earlier today had apologized at a disciplinary hearing in Hartford for the threats and abuse she heaped on police after her drunken-driving arrest in October.

 

Cofield told the council that she had trouble recognizing herself in a two-hour video recording of her booking at Glastonbury police headquarters.

 

"My use of racially insensitive language is reprehensible, incomprehensible and regrettable," said Cofield, who attributed her insults "to my intoxicated condition, as I am not a racist."

 

The 60-year-old black judge said she was raised in the segregated South and was mystified by her use of the same epithets against a black trooper that once had been directed against her.

 

The council concluded the hearing at 2:30 p.m. and began closed-door deliberations about whether Cofield violated the Code of Judicial Conduct.

 

Under questioning by council members, Cofield retreated from a previous claim made under oath that she only had two drinks on the night of her arrest.

 

"I don't have an accurate recollection," she said today. "Perhaps I shouldn't have taken a guess."

 

Cofield denied being more than an occasional social drinker, but since the arrest she has sought counseling by a psychiatrist, Dr. Martin Zelman, who testified on her behalf. She also is attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to learn more about abuse, she said.

 

But the panel focused more on her conduct after the arrest, such as using racial slurs and referring to State Police Sgt. Dwight Washington as "Mr. Negro Washington."

 

Last month, the council found sufficient cause to hold a disciplinary hearing and released the video of her booking, which became widely viewed on the Internet.

 

"When I watched the video, I did not recognize myself," Cofield said. "It was as if I was having an out-of-body experience."

 

In a hearing room packed with supporters today, Cofield said in a soft, measured voice that she had embarrassed herself, her family and the Connecticut judiciary.

 

"To the police officers involved in the my accident and arrest, I am sorry for my offensive and derogatory actions," Cofield said. "I thank you for your professionalism and patience."

 

In her apology, she named each of several state troopers and one female Glastonbury officer she had verbally abused after she struck a parked state police cruiser, occupied by a trooper, on Route 2 after having drinks with colleagues at a bar in Hartford.

 

"I would like to apologize to my fellow judges," Cofield said. "I've embarrassed each of you and for that I am deeply sorry."

 

The video of Cofield's interactions with police was not shown. The council's chairman, Ross Garber, said all council members had previously viewed the entire recording at least once.

 

Peter Clark, the council's executive director, said none of the charges claim she is a racist, a statement that Cofield later called a relief.

 

Cofield, a prosecutor who was appointed to the bench in 1991 as the state's first black female judge, was highly rated for fairness and comportment by lawyers and jurors in two evaluations conducted in 2004 and 2006, judicial officials testified.

 

No one ever had raised a question of racial animus by Cofield, who once studied theology at the Yale Divinity School and is the daughter of a minister who was active in the civil rights movement, the officials said.

 

Judge Patrick Clifford, the judiciary's chief administrator of the criminal division, said he would have no reservations about her continuing as a judge.

 

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant, who has known Cofield since they were law students at the University of Connecticut, said Cofield's arrest came during a tough time.

 

Her father had died, her mother's house was destroyed by fire and her marriage was dissolving, Bryant said.

 

"She was feeling pain, and she was inflicting pain," Bryant said.

 

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"When I watched the video, I did not recognize myself," Cofield said. "It was as if I was having an out-of-body experience."

 

Umm, it's called alcohol, lady.

 

This reminds me of the Mel Gibson drunken tirade, though I'm not sure he ever "apologized" for what he said.

 

In a related TRUE story, a few months back I walked past Mr Gibson himself in a Rite-Aid (drug store). After we passed each other, we both ended up doing the "look back" move, me just to be sure he was as short as he appeared, and he (ostensibly) to check to see if I had a tail.

 

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Umm, it's called alcohol, lady.

 

This reminds me of the Mel Gibson drunken tirade, though I'm not sure he ever "apologized" for what he said.

 

In a related TRUE story, a few months back I walked past Mr Gibson himself in a Rite-Aid (drug store). After we passed each other, we both ended up doing the "look back" move, me just to be sure he was as short as he appeared, and he (ostensibly) to check to see if I had a tail.

 

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

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