Shortly after 9:00 AM on March 11, 2005, Judge Robert Restaino took the bench in Niagara Falls City Court. Approximately 70 people filled the courtroom—46 defendants in a domestic violence diversion program, plus attorneys, court staff, and counselors.
For 45 minutes, proceedings went normally. Then a cell phone rang.
“Everyone is going to jail,” Restaino announced. “Every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now.”
No one came forward. What followed was an hours-long descent into collective punishment that would end Restaino’s judicial career—and reveal a temperament that should concern every resident of Niagara Falls today…