State panel: Suffolk judge resigns after drunken driving incident

ALBANY — A state judge in Suffolk County has resigned following a drunken driving incident in which he tried to pull rank, a judicial review panel announced Monday.

Justice William Rebolini, a Supreme Court justice in the 10th Judicial District, “agreed to resign while under formal disciplinary charges” and agreed to never seek or accept judicial office again, the Commission on Judicial Conduct said.

The resignation is effective May 28; Rebolini's term in Supreme Court term wasn’t set to expire until Dec. 31, 2027.

Rebolini, a 63-year-old Huntington resident, was arrested on Sept. 30, 2018 in Riverhead, for allegedly driving while intoxicated. During the traffic stop, the judge “asserted his judicial office with the police officer at the scene, in an attempt to avoid arrest or other adverse consequences,” the commission found.

“Driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious violation of law that threatens the safety and lives of pedestrians, passengers and other motorists, as well as the offending driver,” Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said in a statement. “It is made worse when a judge asserts the prestige of judicial office to evade the consequences of having been caught.”

In 2019, the judge pleaded guilty to “Driving While Ability Impaired by Alcohol.” He was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge, 40 hours of community service, a $500 fine and $260 surcharge.

The judicial commission had launched a disciplinary investigation separate from the driving charge. Rebolini’s resignation agreement, dated March 12, ended that probe.

Rebolini is a former Democratic Huntington Town Board member who served as a District Court judge from 1993 to 2003 before being elected to Supreme Court, where he'd served since 2004. 

Rebolini’s attorney didn’t immediately comment.