Dennis Baptista is said to have gone to police to find the mother of alleged vandal, berating her about how she raised her son, "failing to be forthcoming" during inquiries to incident
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The N.J. Supreme court hears its first cases of the 2010-11 term Monday at the Richard Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. Appellate Judge Edwin Stern joins the bench on temporary assignment in this September 2010 file photo.TRENTON — Phillipsburg’s municipal court judge has been reprimanded for his "deeply offensive and highly inappropriate" conduct in responding to vandalism to his son’s luxury car.
The state Supreme Court agreed with a March 11 recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct and ordered the reprimand for Dennis Baptista on April 5.
The committee found Baptista, Phillipsburg’s sole municipal court judge, violated the code of judicial conduct by going to Phillipsburg police to find the mother of the alleged vandal, berating her about how she raised her son and "failing to be forthcoming" to the committee in its inquiries.
Baptista’s attorney, Henry Klingeman, said the reprimand is "the only blemish on an otherwise compelling record" of service for the part-time municipal court judge, who has been on the bench in Phillipsburg since 2007.
"Judge Baptista has had a distinguished tenure in Phillipsburg and hopes to continue but this is definitely an episode he wants to put behind him," Klingeman said.
The complaint grew out of an Oct. 29, 2008, incident involving Baptista’s son, then a junior at Phillipsburg High School, who found a dent punched into his Mercedes.
A senior at the school, identified as K.H., was accused of causing the vandalism. Attempting to speak to the teen’s mother about paying for the damage, Baptista contacted two police officers separately about getting her contact information.
When he finally talked to the mother, who is a member of the Kiwanis Club, Baptista told her her son wouldn’t have "problems" if she spent "less time" working with the organization and "more time" with him, according to the ACJC presentment. The committee called those comments "ignorant and ill-mannered judgments" and said they "reflected negatively on (Baptista) in the context of his judicial office."
He also told the committee her phone number was not listed in the phone book. However, she submitted a printout of whitepages.com that contained the number.
