By Michael Morton
“They got outfoxed,” Stephen Singer told a forum held by the Jamaica Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Referring to the subsequent police criticism, Singer said, “that's why they're so angry.”
Blackburne, 66, a resident of St. Albans and a judge on Queens Treatment Court in Kew Gardens for drug cases, heard a progress report about Derek Sterling, a convicted dealer, on June 10. When a detective showed up outside her courtroom seeking him in a separate Ozone Park robbery case, Blackburne ordered a court officer to lead Sterling out another exit.
Singer said the detective initially wanted to question Sterling outside the courtroom and sought to trick the man into a confession in the robbery case. By not slapping handcuffs on Sterling, the detective did not have to read him his Miranda rights, Singer said. But when Sterling's lawyer told the detective his client did not wish to speak, the detective decided to arrest Sterling, Singer said.
It was then that Blackburne gave her order to the court officer.
“The cop was ticked off because she thwarted their evil plan,” Singer said, adding that in his opinion the judge did the right thing ethically and morally, but “legally I have some problems with that. That's what they're having the hearing about.”
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct is currently investigating Blackburne's conduct and will decide whether to formally charge her and hear her case. If they decide to do so, the proceedings could take up to one year before the commission finds her innocent, issues a reprimand or seeks her removal.
Blackburne can appeal the decision and for now has accepted a reassignment to Civil Court in Jamaica.
She has not returned calls seeking comment.
At the NAACP forum, held at Roy Wilkins Park Community Center in St. Albans to discuss the reaction to Blackburne's conduct, more than 150 community members crammed in to hear the speakers. Those taking the microphone included Singer; Leroy Gadsden, head of police relations for the Jamaica NAACP; Lt. Eric Adams, leader of the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care; Kenneth Cohen, president of the NAACP's Northeast Queens chapter; Fred Brewington, a civil rights attorney from Hempstead, L.I.; and Joan Flowers of the Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association.
Many of the speakers said Blackburne stood up for suspects' rights in a community too often harassed by the police.
“She's a protector of justice and civil rights,” said Brewington, a defense lawyer in a case heard by Blackburne involving an officer claiming he was bitten by a female suspect who claimed she had been assaulted by the cop. He urged black lawyers and judges to speak up on Blackburne's behalf: “Don't stay home on this one.”
Among other critics, City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) has said Blackburne should be charged with hindering prosecution.
“That's the black person's charge,” said Adams, describing it as a common accusation when no other crime can be found. “We need to stand with her in the beginning, the middle and the end.”
Many of Blackburne's supporters criticized Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the police unions and the press for publicly castigating the judge's actions before all the facts were known. They said the commission investigation at least represented her due process and remained confident she would be put back on the drug court.
“The judge is not only supposed to reflect the community but make the community feel comfortable in that courtroom,” Cohen said. “We want to feel like we can come to court and be fairly treated.”
The police unions have called for Blackburne's removal, but supporters said the demand has as much to do with the judge's dealings with Sterling as with past decisions and controversies.
Blackburne was previously a judge in Criminal Court, and in 2002 she dismissed cop shooting charges brought against a Jamaica man, angering police and the Queens district attorney. That proceeding saw NAACP members sitting on one side of the gallery and police on the other. In 1992, Blackburne resigned from her post as the head of the city Housing Authority after allegedly using public funds for junkets and an office redecoration.
But outside the NAACP forum, a source within the legal and political community in southeast Queens said Blackburne simply followed the law by declaring that the alleged shooter had not received a speedy trial after the legal time limit had expired.
Turning to the Housing Authority, the source said city employees often spend money on their offices, but Blackburne's expenses were publicized because she spoke up within the agency on behalf of low-income residents. Blackburne has been a target, the source said, because she is an outspoken black woman.
Her brother Jefferson Diggs, also speaking outside the meeting, said Blackburne was doing well and thought she had acted properly.
“Ever since she was a little girl, if she felt she was right she could handle it,” he said. “She's reasonably confident she'll be vindicated.”
Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
