Legal News

Judge in Lehman Case Charged After Domestic Incident

By Dan Slater

By now you may have seen the headline. Bankruptcy Judge James M. Peck, the man overseeing the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, was arrested following a domestic incident with his wife at their apartment at 1060 Park Avenue, police said. According to the criminal complaint, he was charged on two misdemeanor counts: third-degree attempted assault and second-degree harassment.

A spokeswoman for the NYPD told the Law Blog that Peck, 63, was arrested on Saturday. “He had an argument with his wife. And he smacked his wife, causing bruising to her jaw,” said the spokeswoman. A spokesman for Judge Peck declined to comment. He is overseeing the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. Holdings. Here’s the story in the New York Post.

Charles Geyh, a judicial ethics expert at Indiana U. School of Law, says that the allegations of spousal abuse by Peck could warrant an investigation by the chief judge of the Second Circuit. “If public confidence in the official is so undermined by the [alleged] conduct then it merits at least a brief investigation,” Geyh says.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).