Liliana DeAvila-Silebi
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Liliana DeAvila-Silebi is the presiding judge on the Vicinage 2 Superior Court in New Jersey.[1] DeAvila-Silebi was appointed to the court in 2008 and was reappointed in 2015. She may serve on the bench until she reaches the mandatory retirement age in 2037.[2]
Education
DeAvila-Silebi received her undergraduate degree from Manhattan College in 1989 and her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1992.[3]
Career
- 2008-Present: Judge, New Jersey Vicinage 2
- 1993-2008: Assistant prosecutor, Bergen County, New Jersey[3]
Noteworthy events
Ethics charges (2016)
The New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed ethics charges against DeAvila-Silebi in October 2016 for an incident that occurred in May 2015. The charges alleged that the judge acted improperly when she ordered police to transfer a child from one parent to another. This happened over a weekend when DeAvila-Silebi was serving as an emergent judge and she received a phone call from a man claiming to be an attorney. The man, who turned out not to be an attorney, told the judge that the child was with the father and was supposed to have been transferred to the mother for the weekend. He also claimed that the father had kept the child out of school all week.[4]
The advisory committee said that DeAvila-Silebi did not review the custody order, did not confirm the relationship between the child and the caller, did not confirm the venue, and acted on a matter that was outside her jurisdiction (she was in the process of transferring from one county to another). "Given the volume, the unexpectedness, and the ex parte nature of these emergent phone calls, it would be very unreasonable and unrealistic to expect an emergent judge, without the benefit of a court staff or even a file, to field an emergent call on a weekend and completely vet the entire situation prior to making a decision," said DeAvila-Silebi's attorney Raymond Reddin.[4] DeAvila-Silebi's hearing with the advisory committee was on March 22, 2017.[5]
In November 2017, the Committee on Judicial Conduct released its recommendation that DeAvila-Silebi be removed from office. Three judges—Carmen Messano, Deborah Silverman Katz, and Lisa P. Thornton—have been assigned by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner to continue investigating the incident and make their own recommendation.[6]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ New Jersey Judiciay, "Bergen Vicinage, Criminal Division Information," accessed January 15, 2016
- ↑ New Jersey Judiciary, "Judge Biographies," January 4, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 RobeProbe, "Liliana DeAvila Silebi"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 New Jersey Law Journal, "Judge Faces Ethics Charges in Child Custody Transfer Matter," November 17, 2016
- ↑ NorthJersey.com, "Passaic County judge faces misconduct charges for wading into custody case," January 9, 2017
- ↑ New Jersey Law Journal, "Ethics Panel Urges NJ Judge's Removal," November 9, 2017
Federal courts:
Third Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Jersey • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Jersey
State courts:
New Jersey Supreme Court • New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division • New Jersey Superior Courts • New Jersey Municipal Courts • New Jersey Tax Court
State resources:
Courts in New Jersey • New Jersey judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Jersey
