By Dr. Leon R. Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

Well this judge did much more, he put law enforcement in serious danger. Yes, that’s right, Judge Gerard Maney is still on the Family Court bench in New York’s capital after pleading guilty to drunk driving, fleeing the scene of a sobriety checkpoint, making an illegal u-turn to avoid detection, crashing into a barrier (where an officer might have been stationed to prevent such occurrences), and speeding away from a pursuing police vehicle for a half mile before finally pulling over like normal people might.

It gets better, or more accurately, much worse. Family Judge Maney had the audacity after all that to request “professional courtesy” because he was “running for state Supreme Court justice.” When that too failed at the scene, he purposefully delayed a breath test at the police barracks by trying to reach the District Attorney for “better courtesy.” His misconduct eclipsed that of a woman judge in Texas who cried and pleaded for special treatment on the scene of her arrest, also for drunk driving. Both were noted for their hard ball practices in court when sending drunks (like themselves) to jail for the same thing.

Judge Maney received a mere slap on the wrist (a public censure) by New York’s Commission on Judicial Conduct and has continued to enjoy his law license and prestigious position on the court. You can look up the startling facts of his case on-line especially a dissenting opinion of the Commission which unsuccessfully demanded his removal. Defendant Maney had children at the time, he was never suspended from accessing those children and never placed under supervision or alcohol treatment by his own court. A state trooper exhibiting similar off-duty misconduct was removed from his law enforcement job and prosecuted criminally at about the same time.

Meanwhile, I have been denied access to my daughters on Christmas this year because another family judge, Daniel “A-Okay” King of Lowville, New York threw a judicial temper tantrum in 2013 over a champagne toast which I admitted to (without actual consumption) at my niece’s wedding. Yes, you read that correctly too. An appeals court judge (John Centra)  put a stop order on King’s edict because, as he emphasized, I had no negative history, not even an accusation of drunk driving. Like my attorney record for over 23 years, my driving record was (and remains) unblemished.

But we all know beyond any doubt today why this is happening. It is a shocking, indeed unprecedented, disparity in treatment. I remain a target due to my ongoing exposure of court corruption in New York. For example, there’s my custody judge, Bryan Hedges. I had him removed from my case due to his record of engaging in “political espionage” as a judge according to his chief clerk, see Morin v Tormey (and Hedges), 626 F.3d 40 (2nd Cir. 2010). She recovered $600,000.00 against him for retaliation which pales in comparison to what I have endured over a ten year period.

However because judges enjoy immunity from liability in cases brought by litigants (as opposed to court employees), I continue to be denied justice. The custodial parent, Kelly Hawse-Koziol, and judge-appointed child lawyer, William (F.Lee Billy) Koslosky, opposed my motion, insisting that I was “crazy” because Hedges had a reputation beyond reproach, at least until the following year when Family Judge Hedges was removed by the same Commission for admitting to sexual misconduct on his handicapped, five year old niece (she was deaf, mute and seriously unprotected), see In re Hedges, 20 NY3d 677 (2013). Thank God literally that they got that one right.

Although Judge Daniel King was finally removed from my case this past June, and his gag order removed from this website (Leon Koziol.com), he is highlighted here because of an ongoing failure to correct all the damage he inflicted as a vindictive, immature, self-loving and incompetent judge. We did our own investigation to disqualify King after the Commission ignored my complaints. We then discovered that Dan likes his booze to such an extent that his local barmaid has his cocktail committed to memory while his children are in the same establishment.

Now how can these omnipotent beings hold the people they serve to such horrific double standards? How many parents or children might have been killed if Judge Maney was allowed to escape or let go on “professional courtesies?” I have so much more to report in coming days as I begin my crusade against corruption in New York’s Third and Fourth Departments (between Buffalo and Albany). I am hoping to get the likes of Preet Bharara (reappointed as a federal prosecutor by Donald Trump) to conduct a probe into our third branch of government. Judicial immunity is a judge concoction. It finds no authority in our Constitutions.

Fellow court victims: I am doing this public service to benefit all parents who are abused by divorce and family judges. It continues to support my ongoing reform position that judges should be subjected to mental evaluations at the request of a litigant who observes strange behavior on or off the bench. If you would like us to look into your case, publicly or confidentially, feel free to call our office at (315) 380-3420 or me personally at (315) 796-4000. I have traveled as far away as Hawaii and Paris, France on such assignments.