Court officials exploring sanctions against Astacio after she stopped reporting to work

Local court officials are exploring administrative sanctions against embattled Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio after she stopped reporting to work three weeks ago.

State Supreme Court Justice Craig Doran, who oversees the courts that make up the state's Seventh Judicial District, said her prolonged absence from the courthouse may constitute a voluntary abandonment of her elected office.

Astacio has not presided over a case in over a year, after being stripped of her judicial duties and barred from non-public areas of the courthouse by Doran and her direct supervisor,City Court Judge Teresa Johnson.

But under an agreement struck between the three in June, Astacio was to report to the Hall of Justice law library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day court was in session to conduct research and perform other administrative tasks.

The agreement was ostensibly an effort by Astacio's supervisors to help her reclaim her judicial duties.

But it also served to assuage widespread public anger over the fact that Astacio had been collecting her judicial salary of $173,400 for doing no work at all.

In an interview Thursday, Doran said Astacio had been reporting to the library regularly until Aug. 31, when she stopped showing up altogether.

Her lawyer, Mark Young, told WROC-TV (Channel 8) that Astacio has stayed away from the courthouse on the recommendation of her doctor.

Young reportedly said Astacio submitted a note from her physician to her supervisors that cited health reasons for her extended absence.

Astacio was convicted of misdemeanor DWI in August 2016 and sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge that, among other things, required her to abstain from alcohol.

She has since been found guilty of running afoul of her sentence on several occasions, however, and was ordered jailed for 60 days in the spring and placed on three years of probation.

Astacio currently stands accused of violating her probation in the days after she was released from jail in July. A hearing on the charges has been postponed twice and is now slated for Oct. 19.

Astacio was elected to a 10-year term in 2014.

DANDREATTA@GANNETT.COM