Municipal Judge Accused of Judicial Misconduct

Atlantic Highlands Municipal Building

Judge Peter A. Locascio, the Municipal Court Judge in Atlantic Highlands and Highlands, has been accused of Judicial Misconduct by the Disciplinary Counsel of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (ACJC). The complaint can be found here.

Locascio is accused of exhibiting “extreme and personal” hostility towards an attorney appearing before him starting in August of 2008 and extending through early 2013, for failing to rule on recusal motions by that attorney after he was ordered to do so by his Assignment Judge, of using the powers of his office to his personal benefit  and of conflicts of interest in allowing his personal attorney, a close personal friend, to appear before his court.

The attorney involved was not named in the complaint.  “It could be several people,” said one member of the Monmouth County legal community speaking off the record, “Locascio is known to be caustic and vindictive.”

A complaint by the ACJC disciplinary counsel is an indication that an investigation into the initial complaint produced enough evidence to warrant an hearing before the committee. If after the hearing the committee determines that the Judge did violate the Code of Judicial Conduct the matter is referred to the State Supreme Court for public reprimand, censure, suspension, or removal.   If the committee finds after its hearing that there is not clear and convincing evidence of Judicial Misconduct, it makes a recommendation to the Supreme Court to dismiss the complaint with or without private reprimand.

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Judge Escandon no longer ruling on divorces.

Multiple divorce litigants with cases before Judge Paul X. Escandon have told MMM that they have been informed by Monmouth County Court personnel that Escandon will no longer be hearing their cases.

Judge Lawrence M. Lawson, the Assignment Judge of the Monmouth County Vicinage, confirmed the change in Escandon’s assignment.

Escandon will be hearing non-matrimonial cases, those of unmarried couples with children and/or property who need the Court’s involvement to resolve their differences and post-divorce cases that he currently has, according to Lawson.  All family court judges will hear post divorce matters that are 12 months old or more.

Lawson said that the change is the result of his reassigning Judges to cope with the Court’s four vacancies and the temporary elevation of Judge Michael Guadagno to the Appeals Court.

A group of thirty women lead by former Long Branch resident Rachel Alintoff have been fighting get to Escandon recused from their cases and removed from the bench for several months due to what they say is a pattern of improper and illegal rulings regarding custody and support in favor of their wealthy estranged husbands.  There complaints have ranged from revoking custody without a hearing to emanicipating a disabled teenager in order to void child support.

Alintoff brought her plight to Governor Chris Christie’s attention at a Town Hall meeting in Garfield on May 2.   Since then the Advisory Committee on Judical Conduct has initiated an investigation into Escandon’s rulings based on Alintoff’s complaints and those of at least ten other women and one man.

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