NEW OVERSEER FOR COURTS IN BROOKLYN

Reacting to inquiries into the conduct of at least five State Supreme Court
justices in Brooklyn, the state's top judges appointed a new administrative
judge yesterday to oversee the problem-plagued court in the city's most
populous borough.

The extraordinary move came after Justice Victor I. Barron of State Supreme
Court was arrested last month on charges of taking a kickback from a
lawyer, and after disciplinary proceedings against at least four of his
Brooklyn colleagues. The appointment of a new administrative judge for the
court was a sign of alarm among court administrators over a growing
perception of ethics problems on the Brooklyn bench.

The current administrative judge, Michael L. Pesce, is to move to the
Appellate Term.

The state's chief judge, Judith S. Kaye, described his transfer as a promotion.

But Judge Kaye stressed that the appointment of the new judge, Ann Pfau,
who is the state's third-ranking administrative judge, was needed to
restore confidence in the courts after a string of assertions of judicial
improprieties in Brooklyn.

"The public confidence is justifiably shaken," Judge Kaye said in an
interview. "I would have to admit that, much as it hurts."

Only Justice Barron is facing criminal charges. Two other judges have been
reprimanded by the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct for misusing
their influence in cases in other courts, and two others are facing
judicial ethics inquiries, people with knowledge of those cases say.

Brooklyn lawyers and judges say they are bewildered by the flurry of
activity around the squat cement courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn. The
allegations are so disparate, they say, that they cannot be sure whether
the swirl of rumors and charges represent a major scandal or a quirky
coincidence that has brought several nagging concerns about the New York
judiciary to the fore.

Asked about the Brooklyn situation, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said
yesterday that he was watching developments but had not decided to take any
action. "It is very worrisome," he said. "The basis of our society is an
honest, fair, efficient court system."

Judge Kaye and Judge Pfau both declined yesterday to specify what measures
might be taken to repair what they described as a perception problem. Judge
Kaye said efforts were under way to respond to the patronage problems, but
added that the recent assertions showed that added reforms were required.

"Further measures will be necessary," she said.

Judge Pfau, 54, is a veteran court administrator who is a deputy chief
administrative judge. The state's chief administrative judge, Jonathan
Lippman, appointed by Judge Kaye, said Judge Pfau would continue her
statewide job in addition to taking on the new responsibilities in Brooklyn.

The Daily News first reported yesterday that Judge Pesce, a former Brooklyn
assemblyman, would be replaced. Judge Lippman said yesterday that Judge
Pesce would become presiding justice of the Appellate Term, an intermediate
appeals court that hears cases from Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

The reports of judicial wrongdoing have focused unusual attention on the
role of the Brooklyn Democratic Party organization in judicial selection.
The organization sponsored most of the judges who have had recent
difficulties, including Justice Barron, and it has long supported the
district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, who is handling the inquiry into
Justice Barron.

Mr. Hynes has rebuffed questions from reporters and others in recent days
about whether he should disqualify himself from the case because of his
political connections and ask Gov. George E. Pataki to appoint a special
prosecutor.

Announcing Justice Barron's indictment on Jan. 24, Mr. Hynes said that if
there were a conflict of interest he would not have pursued the
investigation of the judge so aggressively. The investigation included
secret tape recordings of Justice Barron receiving an $18,000 payment from
a lawyer in exchange for signing a court order setting the fees that
lawyers were to receive in a civil case.

Justice Barron, the first Supreme Court justice in New York to be charged
with bribery in 15 years, is to be arraigned this morning and Mr. Hynes is
expected to appear as the chief prosecutor. Though he came to public
attention as a prosecutor of high-profile cases before he became Brooklyn
district attorney in 1990, he has not handled a case personally in more
than five years.

The two judges who were reprimanded by the State Commission on Judicial
Conduct in December are Richard D. Huttner and Larry D. Martin.

The commission said Justice Huttner "displayed remarkable insensitivity to
his ethical responsibilities" by using the prestige of his office to try to
win a lawsuit involving the Murray Hill co-op where he lives and was a
board vice president. He signed legal papers in a court battle between the
co-op and a restaurant that was a commercial tenant, and referred to his
judicial position in discussions with the restaurant managers, the
commission said.

The commission found that Justice Martin had contacted judges in Suffolk
County and North Carolina to try to persuade them to give favorable
treatment to the children of family friends facing shoplifting and felony
drug charges.

In recent days another Brooklyn justice, Edward M. Rappaport, received a
letter from the commission indicating that it was examining a report that a
lawyer had told him about Justice Barron's solicitation of a bribe, a
person familiar with the letter said. It would be a violation of judicial
ethics not to report such information. Justice Rappaport did not respond to
calls yesterday.

Last week, a lawyer for yet another Brooklyn justice, Reynold N. Mason, was
quoted by The Daily News as saying the commission had been investigating
Justice Mason for practicing law while sitting on the bench but asserting
that the claims were baseless and provoked by the judge's "mean-spirited" wife.

Later, Justice Mason's lawyer, Edward A. Roberts, told The New York Law
Journal that the commission investigation did not involve allegations of
moonlighting with legal work while on the bench. Yesterday, he declined to
comment.