By John O’Brien
The Syracruse
SYRACRUSE, NY — A high-ranking New York state judge has been sanctioned for using her position to try to convince the state parole board to release an Onondaga County man from prison.
Nancy E. Smith, a senior associate justice on the Appellate Division in Rochester, was admonished today by the state Judicial Conduct Commission for writing a letter on behalf of Craig Cordes.
The admonition, which is a public discipline for misconduct, is the first sanction of any kind for a New York appellate division judge. She violated ethical standards for judges by “lending the prestige of judicial office to advance private interests,” the commission said.
Cordes, 38, is serving a sentence of 3 1/3 to 10 years in prison for a vehicular manslaughter conviction. He pleaded guilty in 2008 for a drunken boating accident that killed two people on Skaneateles Lake.
Full story: High-level judge disciplined over letter seeking inmate’s release