Leticia Astacio Plans to Run Again

It’s official, the Board of Elections has confirmed that former judge, Leticia Astacio plans to run for Rochester City Court.

Last fall, Astacio was removed from office by the Commission on Judicial Conduct after a drunk driving conviction. She also lost her $187,000 annual salary as part of the commission’s removal decision. Upon her removal she reopened her law office, Leticia A Astacio Attorney & Counselor At Law.

The former judge then violated the terms of her probation in 2018 when she tried to purchase a shotgun, and still has pending related charges.

On top of all this, she’s not even eligible to be on the ballot. In an interview with News 8, the administrator for the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, Robert H. Tembeckjian stated,

“Under the New York State constitution, a judge who has been removed from office is ineligible to be a judge again, that presumably would mean that they can’t be on the ballot because even if they were to be elected they could not serve. But in the 40 years or so that I’ve been doing this sort of work, this is the first time that I’m aware of that a judge who was removed is contemplating running for judicial office again. So as far as I’m aware, it’s never happened before.”