Update 4/8/19: An ethics committee has recommended a three-month, unpaid suspension for Judge John Russo. Please sign and share the petition to make sure Russo is unseated immediately. New Jersey Judge John F. Russo is a disgraceful judge and should not be allowed to preside over any cases. One of the more disgusting things he did was ask a victim of sexual assault if she had tried to "
keep her legs closed," which was not his job and is a horrifying example of victim blaming.
Sign on if you want to make sure Judge Russo never presides over a case again. The woman he victim-blamed wasn't even in front of him pressing charges for the rape. Instead, she was seeking a restraining order from a man who allegedly raped her, verbally abused her and threatened to burn down her house and take her child. During the restraining order hearing is when Russo essentially accused her of "letting" her attacker rape her in a manner that was inappropriate for a judge as he was acting more like a defense attorney, clearly choosing sides.
Russo has been on paid leave since May of 2017 because of various complaints against him for erratic and offensive behavior. He makes $165,000 a year. It's astounding that tax dollars are paying this man. Not only did he victim-blame a woman, but he didn't recuse himself from a divorce case in which he knew the couple. For that case, he lowered the amount his buddy owed a former partner from $10,000 to $300.
This is clearly a corrupt man. One of the last straws is that he threw a file at his clerk in court and verbally abused her, asking about the paternity of her children. This is not a man who should be overseeing cases at all. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct has filed a complaint against him and his bosses have asked he submit to a psychiatric evaluation due to his erratic outbursts. He will not submit and is suing them in return.
This is an unstable, unfair man. He has no business being a judge. Any of these things alone is enough to disqualify a person from being a judge. But all of them together make an incredible case for unseating him.
Please sign on to ask that he is immediately removed from his position. The fact that he is still earning $165,000 yearly of tax payer dollars is disgusting. 