Judge's action rings sour note for panel

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A New York judicial panel ordered the removal of a judge after he jailed 46 people when no one 'fessed up to owning what was thought to be a ringing cell phone.

Niagara Falls city judge Robert M. Restaino "became a petty tyrant, abusing his judicial power and placing himself above the law he was sworn to administer," the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said when ordering Restaino removed. The vote was 9-1 in favor of removal, with one member voting for censure, The Buffalo News reported Wednesday.

Attorneys for the jurist said he would appeal the decision.

"You get what's coming to you, eh?" said Mark Glavin of Niagara Falls, one of the people jailed in the March 11, 2005, brouhaha in the city's Domestic Violence Court.

"I don't think it was a cell phone," Glavin said. "It could have been a watch. It could have been anything."

When the suspected cell phone rang, Restaino "immediately directed the owner to come forward or else 'everybody could take a week in jail,'" the commission said, quoting the court transcript.