Wachtler began to harass her. Wachtler was arrested on 7 November 1992, on charges including extortion, racketeering, and blackmail. Prosecutors alleged that he demanded a $20,000 blackmail payment in exchange for turning over compromising photographs and tapes of Silverman with her then boyfriend, attorney David Samson. He eventually pleaded guilty to harassing Silverman and threatening to kidnap her daughter. He resigned as a judge and from the bar, and Governor Mario Cuomo appointed Judith S. Kaye to replace him as chief judge of the Court of Appeals. He served his sentence, first at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina, and from December 1993 at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota after he was stabbed in the shoulder while dozing in his cell in November. Wachtler was sentenced to 15 months, but received time off for good behavior. His sentence started 28 September 1993. He was released after serving 13 months. Later life After his release from prison, Wachtler wrote a prison memoir, After the Madness () and a book of fiction, Blood Brothers (). He also contributed to the book Serving Mentally Ill Defendants () and has written as a critic-at-large for The New Yorker Magazine. He is currently an adjunct professor at Touro Law School and Chair of the Law and Psychiatry Institute of North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital. He is an advocate for the mentally ill and has received awards from the Mental Health Association of the State of New York and New York City. Wachtler's New York law license was restored by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division on October 2, 2007. Personal life Wachtler married his high school sweetheart, Joan Carol Wolosoff, the daughter of homebuilder Leon Wolosoff, granddaughter of lumberman Max Blumberg, and niece of New York State Senator, George Blumberg. They had four children: attorney Lauren Wachtler Montclare; Marjorie Wachtler Eagan, a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; actress and model Alison Wachtler Braunstein; and real estate developer Philip Wachtler. His daughter, Lauren, married attorney Paul Douglas Montclare in 1983. His son, Philip Wachtler, is married to Robin Wilpon, daughter of New York Mets former owner Fred Wilpon. Wachtler lives in Manhasset, New York. In Popular Culture The Season 4 episode "Censure" of Law & Order is based on Wachtler's affair and conviction. References Sources The Political Graveyard, Wachtler, Sol Further reading External links 1930 births Living