ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Rochester Mayor Malik Evans is expressing concern about Rochester City Court Judge Michael Lopez after Monroe County Executive Adam Bello filed a formal complaint against the judge with the Commission on Judicial Conduct.
As News10NBC first reported, Bello called Judge Lopez a “danger to the community” in his complaint.
The controversy centers around what’s known as the Centralized Arraignment Part Court where anyone arrested outside of business hours is brought for arraignment. It seems there was a standing order that anytime bail was set on a suspect who would eventually be in front of Judge Lopez, the case was bumped to the next day and often, the bail requirement was eliminated, in some cases without attorneys even asking for it to be considered.
“I think there is absolutely a concern, we put CAP court together because we wanted to expedite the administration of justice so, I think there are concerns whenever you have a judge that would overturn someone else’s decision that was made the night before without prosecution asking for it, the defense asking for it, that is very much a concern of ours,” Mayor Malik Evans says. “And then the type of folks that are being overturned have been people who have been responsible for domestic violence, some of the most heinous crimes in our community so, I think it is absolutely a concern and I hope that no other judge does that.”
A few weeks ago Judge Lopez released a suspect in a violent domestic violence case just hours after another judge had set bail. And last week, a 9-time felon was remanded to jail for 5 new drug charges by a CAP court judge but Lopez assigned an attorney and released him with no bail the next morning.
Jenifer Lewke, News10NBC: “Have you filed a formal complaint yourself?”
Mayor Malik Evans: “I have not, I have not. The county executive put his forward, I’m sure that’s enough for all of us that are in elected office both in the cities and towns.”
The mayor says at the very least, he’s hoping the discussion on all this brings some awareness on how these type of decisions are made and by whom. “We regularly get calls that say, “what is the mayor going to do about this?”– not understanding that I don’t control the criminal justice system so from my perspective, it’s important for people to understand and I think that this is a learning experience for people to know,” Evans says.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct does not comment on pending investigations. Judge Lopez’s office told News10NBC he would have no comment and referred us to a spokesman for the state court system. That spokesman responded to say he would have no comment.
Judge Michael Lopez is serving a 10-year term which expires at the end of 2028.
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Mayor Evans: Judge Lopez overturning bail ‘without prosecution or defense asking for it’ is ‘very much a concern’ WHEC.com.
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