Jaime Rios

Jaime Rios is a judge on the New York Supreme Court for Queens County. Prior to sitting on the Supreme Court, Judge Rios served on the New York City Civil Court and the Housing Court. Judge Rios holds a B.S. degree from City College of New York, a M.A. degree from New York University, and a law degree from Fordham University School of Law. Following law school, Judge Rios was a prosecutor in King's County and later an attorney for the New York City Police Department. He also teaches landlord/tenant law at Fordham as an adjunct professor. He is also a co-chair of Fordham's Minority Mentorship Program for law students.

Tyrone Johnson case

In 2005, Judge Rios' conduct in the second murder trial of Tyrone Johnson came under scrutiny. Johnson's first conviction for the murder of nightclub owner Leroy Vann was overturned by Judge Rios when it was revealed that a prosecutor lied about the whereabouts of a defense witness. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=investigators&id=3628380 Did Judge Tip Scales in Murder Case?] , WABC-TV Eyewitness News.] Judith Memblatt, the judge's former law clerk, accused him of improperly coaching the prosecutor in the second trial, Eugene Riebstein. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=investigators&id=3628380 7online.com: Did Judge Tip Scales in Murder Case? 11/15/05 ] ] Based on Memblatt's allegations, Johnson's defense attorney Ron Kuby sought to overturn this second conviction. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=investigators&id=3628380 7online.com: Did Judge Tip Scales in Murder Case? 11/15/05 ] ] In support of the motion to vacate the conviction, Kuby took the unorthodox step of calling Judge Rios as a witness to address the allegation, [ [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2006/07/30/2006-07-30_bench_press_03_slay_trial_judge_must_tes.html BENCH PRESS: '03 SLAY TRIAL JUDGE MUST TESTIFY] , "New York Daily News"] but Rios denied any misconduct. A side issue in the case is Memblatt's further allegation of a sexual affair between former prosecutor Meryl Lutsky and the married Rios which, in Memblatt's words, made him "unfit" to be a judge. [ [http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/927950991.html?dids=927950991:927950991&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT New York Post Online Edition: News ] ] The affair, and Memblatt's subsequent firing, prompted the tabloid "New York Post" to call Rios the "Love Judge." [ [http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/927950991.html?dids=927950991:927950991&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT New York Post Online Edition: News ] ] Memblatt has gone on to become a blogger highly critical of the New York state judiciary as a whole. [ [http://ittakesablogger.blogspot.com/2005/06/it-takes-blogger.html "It Takes A Blogger"] ] In October 2006, Judge Matthew D'Emic denied Johnson's motion to overturn the conviction, finding no misconduct on Rios' part. [ [http://www.courts.state.ny.us/library/queens/PDF_files/people-johnson.pdf "People v. Johnson"] Decision & Order.]

References

External links

* [http://207.29.128.48/judge/JudgeDetail?judge_cars_id=7025315 Hon. Jaime Rios] , New York State Unified Court System