On Monday, January 9, 2023, in a Stipulation issued by the State of New York Commission on Judicial Conduct, Hon. Harriet L. Thompson, a judge of the Surrogate’s Court, King’s County filed her resignation from office after a case of misconduct for making inappropriate comments to employees and judges of the US Court System.
The case is entitled “In the matter of Hon. Harriet L. Thompson”, and was brought by the Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Respondent was served with a Formal Written Complaint dated May 23, 2022, containing four charges of misconduct, alleging that she made inappropriate comments to and about employees and judges of the Unified Court System. She displayed bias against various individuals and ethnicities, failure to administer Surrogate Court matters in a timely manner, leading to substantial delays; and, as a candidate for Surrogate in 2018, failure to complete mandatory campaign ethics education in a timely manner.
The Referee or the Commission denied various applications filed by the respondent including Motions to dismiss several charges. On November 30, 2022, the respondent produced a letter from her physician stating that due to certain medical procedures, she is “not medically fit to stand trial”.
In lieu of the medical disability the respondent had stated, she stipulated that she will retire from Judicial Office on March 1, 2023, and she will neither seek nor accept judicial office at any time in the future.
The Judge earned a law degree from Albany Law School in 1982.
Judge Thompson’s courtroom is located at 2 Johnson St in Brooklyn and can be reached at 1 347-404-9700. Her info can be found on Trellislaw.com.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
