Judge Faces Suspension for Asking Woman in Sexual Assault Case If She 'Closed Her Legs'
New Jersey Superior Court Judge John F. Russo Jr. is facing suspension after he reportedly asked a woman seeking a restraining order if she tried to prevent her alleged sexual assault by closing her legs.
According to The New York Times, an advisory committee found that the displayed behavior that was “not only discourteous and inappropriate but also egregious given the potential for those questions to re-victimize the plaintiff.” Members collectively recommended a three-month suspension without pay, as well as courtroom demeanor training.
Russo claims he was only trying to get more information, not humiliate her. However, after reading the transcript from the woman’s initial 2016 hearing, it’s clear his line of questioning was harmful and beyond insulting.
You can read the transcript below, as reported by the New York Times:
“Do you know how to stop somebody from having intercourse with you?”
Judge Russo asked the woman.“Yes,” she replied.
“How would you do that?” the judge asked.
The woman said she would try to physically harm the attacker and say
“no,” to which Judge Russo asked, “What else?”The woman said she would ask the person to stop, to which Judge Russo
again asked, “What else?”She then said she would run away.
Russo then continues onward in victim-shaming territory, asking the woman once again what she could have done to prevent herself from getting sexually assaulted—and then offering his own suggestions.
“Run away, get away,” he said. “Anything else?”
“Block your body parts?” Judge Russo added. “Close your legs? Call the
police? Did you do any of those things?”
The plaintiff had come before Russo to get a restraining order against a man whom she not only alleges raped her but, per the Times, also allegedly threatened her life and made inappropriate comments to their child. Russo ultimately denied the woman’s request for a restraining order, according to the Washington Post, adding that her answers to his re-victimizing questions played into his decision-making.
Russo was put on administrative leave in 2017; however, the judicial conduct committee recommending his suspension also accuses Russo of three more counts of courtroom misconduct pertaining to different cases.
“Judge Russo looks forward to a public hearing in which he will be able to respond to the allegations against him,” his lawyer told a local NBC station in March 2018. “We have respect for the process as well as the advisory committee on judicial conduct, and therefore won’t comment further.”