N.J. Supreme Court suspends law license for former Morris municipal judge
by Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger
Friday February 20, 2009, 5:18 PM
The state Supreme Court has suspended the law license of a former Morris County municipal judge who threatened a police officer during a driving while intoxicated stop in 2007.
The state attorney Disciplinary Review Board recommended that George Korpita only be censured, but the high court handed down a three-month suspension for the "unethical behavior," according to a Feb. 2 order that was released today.
MATT RAINEY/THE STAR-LEDGERIn a December 2007 file photo, George Korpita, a former Morris County municipal judge apears in Morris County Superior Court.Korpita was a municipal judge of Dover, Rockaway Borough and Victory Gardens when he was charged with driving while intoxicated in Roxbury in November 2007.
He pleaded guilty in December 2007 in Superior Court in Morristown to driving while intoxicated and to threatening a public servant. Korpita admitted he flashed his municipal judge identification and mentioned several times he was a municipal court judge.
"I'm a judge. I'm okay, bro. I'm okay," he said, according to the arrest report. Korpita failed five sobriety tests and had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.22, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.
When the officers refused to back off the arrest, Korpita threatened to take action against them if they appeared in one of his courts, Korpita admitted. Officers routinely appear in municipal courts to help prosecute tickets and complaints they sign against people.
Korpita was sentenced in February 2008 to three years of probation, to never serve in public office again and to never seek to have his record expunged. He also was ordered to perform community service, to attend an in-house substance-abuse program, to lose his driver's license for a year and to pay $1,000 in fines.
While awaiting sentencing in the Roxbury case, Korpita was charged with driving while intoxicated in Sparta. He has pleaded not guilty in Sparta and that case is pending.
Prior to having his attorney's license reinstated, Korpita also must submit proof of his mental-health fitness and periodic reports of his sobriety to the state Office of Attorney Ethics, the Supreme Court order states.