Jaime Rios is a
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
on the
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
for
Queens County. Prior to sitting on the Supreme Court, Judge Rios served on the
New York City Civil Court and the Housing Court. Judge Rios holds a
B.S.
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree from
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
, a
M.A. degree from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, and a
law degree from
Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...
. Following law school, Judge Rios was a
prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
in
Kings County Kings County or King's County may refer to:
Places Canada
*Kings County, New Brunswick
*Kings County, Nova Scotia
*Kings County, Prince Edward Island
** King's County (electoral district), abolished in 1892
Ireland
* County Offaly, formerly call ...
and later an attorney for the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
. He also teaches
landlord/tenant law at Fordham as an adjunct professor. He is also a co-chair of Fordham's Minority Mentorship Program for law students.
Judge Rios retired from the bench in December 2013. Many attorneys mourned his retirement, noting that he was a consistent and fair jurist whose understanding of the law was generally above reproach.
Tyronne Johnson case
In 2005, Judge Rios' conduct in the second murder trial of Tyronne Johnson came under scrutiny. Johnson's first conviction for the murder of nightclub owner Leroy Vann was overturned by Judge Rios when it was revealed that a prosecutor lied about the whereabouts of a defense witness. Judith Memblatt, the judge's former law clerk, accused him of improperly coaching the prosecutor in the second trial, Eugene Riebstein.
[7online.com: Did Judge Tip Scales in Murder Case? 11/15/05](_blank)
/ref> Based on Memblatt's allegations, Johnson's defense attorney Ron Kuby
Ronald L. Kuby (born July 31, 1956) is an American criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and television commentator. He has also hosted radio programs on WABC Radio in New York and Air America radio.
Kuby currently l ...
sought to overturn this second conviction.blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
ger highly critical of the New York state judiciary as a whole. In October 2006, Judge Matthew D'Emic denied Johnson's motion to overturn the conviction, finding no misconduct on Rios' part.''People v. Johnson''
Decision & Order.
See also
*
List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists
*
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New York
This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in New York. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state ...
References
External links
Hon. Jaime Rios New York State Unified Court System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Jaime
Fordham University School of Law alumni
New York (state) state court judges
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Hispanic and Latino American judges