POS judge tried to use his position and influence to help son who tortured kitten; only one commission member had the you-know-whats to vote to "boot" him from office

NEW YORK -- A upstate judge got his wrist slapped for trying to keep cops from charging his son with torturing a kitten — because it could keep the troubled teen from getting hired by the local sheriff’s department, officials revealed Wednesday.

Whitestown Town Justice Daniel Sullivan abused his position through “highly improper” conversations with the town police chief and the cop who caught his son inside a women’s bathroom at a public park with “two small kittens,” the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said.

Joseph Sullivan with his Daddy the judge

“One of the kittens had been hog-tied with tape, and there was a lighter nearby,” according to the commission’s majority ruling.

Joseph was released to his dad’s custody without charges following the July 19, 2013, incident, and the older man called Police Chief Donald Wolanin’s cell phone the next day, urging him not to “go piling on” or “overcharge” in the case.

Sullivan also spoke with arresting Officer Frank McCully following a court session two days later.

Sullivan said an arrest would “ruin (Joseph’s) chances of getting a job with the Oneida County sheriff,” and “argued that because the kittens were not actually injured, a charge of cruelty to animals did not apply.”

“(Sullivan) also said that that his son’s drug rehabilitation had cost (him) and his wife nearly all their life savings,” according to the commission.

Joseph, then 19, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “carrying an animal inhumanely” in March 2014 and was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and ordered to stay away from any cats and the park.

In a split decision, eight commission members voted to censure Sullivan, saying his “paternal instincts” and subsequent cooperation warranted “the most severe sanction available short of removal.”

Another taped kitten found at Whitestown park

One member — lawyer Richard Emery, who also heads the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board — voted to boot Sullivan from office.

Sullivan didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment

(NY Post - July 22, 2015)

Earlier:

• Judge's son caught in ladies bathroom preparing to torture kittens to death. Dad insists, "He's a good kid."

Related:

• Another taped kitten found at Whitestown park