Friday, April 26, 2013

Judge out for Abuse of Deaf Niece

New York's high court is making sure a family judge never hears another case. Former Onondaga County family court judge Bryan Hedges is accused of sexually abusing his deaf niece some 40 years ago, when she was 5 years old. Hedges resigned from the Syracuse-area post last year when the accusation became public. He's been a judge since 1985. The Commission on Judicial Conduct decided that his removal from office would have been the appropriate sanction if Hedges still were a judge and he hadn't resigned before it could rule. Now, New York's highest court has upheld the decision to keep Hedges off the bench--permanently.