City court judges across New York state will receive a scheduled pay increase this week, boosting their annual compensation from $175,500 to $187,200.
Among them is embattled Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio, who remains on probation for a drunken driving conviction and has not been hearing cases since her February 2016 arrest.
The raises, which went into effect April 1, were enacted by a state commission on judicial compensation in 2015, which recommended salary increases to be rolled out over the years that followed.
Astacio was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. A state trooper testified he found Astacio's SUV on the side of Interstate 490 near Mt. Read Boulevard with extensive front-end damage and both driver's side tires flat. She was found guilty of driving while intoxicated after a bench trial in August 2016.
She was subsequently sentenced to three years of probation in July 2017 after being found to have violated terms of the original sentence to her drunken driving conviction, which was a one-year conditional discharge. Her efforts to appeal the terms of her probation were unsuccessful.
State Supreme Court Justice Craig Doran, the administrative judge for regional courts, ordered Astacio to return to work in February after a six-month absence. She had earlier said a physician found her current work — administrative tasks in a small room — to be overly stressful.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct, which considers allegations of misconduct by judges, is now scrutinizing the conviction and other actions by Astacio, including violations of her original post-conviction guidelines. The only mechanism for removing Astacio from office would be a recommendation by the commission, which would then have to be approved by the Court of Appeals.
Astacio was elected to a 10-year term that runs through the end of 2024.