People v. La Carrubba

In People v. La Carrubba (46 N.Y.2d 658 [1979], a District Court Judge in Suffolk County was indicted for official misconduct. The single count upon which she was convicted alleged that, with the intent to obtain a benefit, the judge knowingly refrained from performing a duty that was imposed upon her by law or was clearly inherent in the nature of her office when, before the return date of a simplified traffic information received by a close personal friend, she improperly dismissed it for failure to prosecute. The count specifically alleged that her conduct was "in violation of . . . the Code of Judicial Conduct, Canons 2 and 3" (id. at 661). Those canons had been promulgated initially by the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association, and had then been incorporated by reference in the Rules of the Appellate Division, Second Department. The Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and dismissed the charge, holding that "provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct which do not come within the ambit of one of the express proscriptions of the Penal Law and which have never been adopted by the Legislature may not be enforced by resort to criminal prosecution" (id. at 665.)