They've begun to write the end of the Leticia Astacio story.
A letter yesterday afternoon from the state's chief administrative judge declared that her unapproved and unexplained trip to Thailand "may constitute the voluntary abandonment of public office."
That's lawyer talk for "clean out your desk."
Except, of course, in the case of Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio, that happened months ago. After being caught rummaging through offices that weren't her own, she was banned from all the non-public areas at the Hall of Justice.
She needs access to the public areas, of course, because of recurring court dates at which she unfortunately stands on the wrong side of the bench. That stems from a drunk driving mess she created last summer when, three sheets to the wind, she wrecked her car on the way to Saturday-morning arraignments.
That was the high point of a brief judicial career which started with an election in which she was the only unqualified candidate and the only black candidate. You can check the census report to figure out how that turned out.
On the bench, many at the Hall of Justice describe her as a diva with an aversion to work.
And then she got the DWI.
DWI cases can go a variety of ways, but none of them has ever gone this way before.
Her honor has turned this into a clown circus dominated by odd confrontations with reporters in the hallway and even odder arguments before the judge hearing her case. He imposed a punishment, she blew it off, he responded, she blew it off, he responded, and she blew it off some more.
And when she was called back in again yesterday, to explain the apparent gaming of the breathalyzer on her car and the presence of alcohol in her urine, her lawyer showed up with a text saying she was with monks on a mountain top in Thailand.
That's when the crap got real.
And now the administrative judges are going to clamp down on her.
Not that they haven't tried from the very beginning.
Under New York's rules for the care and feeding of judges, administrative judges can set the work conditions and assignments for judges. They can even do so punitively, within limits. They supervise judges, but they can't fire them.
That power lies with the state Judicial Conduct Commission.
For all we know, it is also on a mountain top in Thailand, because we haven't seen hide nor hair of it around here.
Supposedly, the commission has been looking closely at the conduct of Leticia Astacio for some time. It has, unfortunately, not been doing anything about the conduct of Leticia Astacio, allowing her to thumb her nose at it and the taxpayers.
As she melted down, the administrative judges took all duties and responsibilities away from Leticia Astacio. She doesn't hear cases, write decisions, play with desk toys or anything else judgelike.
She just draws the paycheck.
Some $170,000 a year for sitting on her arse.
While month after month we wait for the Judicial Conduct Commission to weigh in on a drunk-driving, law-defying, court-ignoring judge.
After a while, the embarrassing part isn't the fruity judge, it's the impotent courts. If the people who are supposed to keep judges in line don't care about the reputation of the court, why should we? Is the stupid part a faux judge who games the system, or the real judges who let her?
And now she's in Thailand.
Where they have rehab tourism.
Though she has repeatedly denied she has a drinking problem, many have noted that her odd destination -- Thailand -- is known for luxury low-cost rehab, where you can lounge by the beach, linger in the jungle, or puke with the monks, as you dry out.
If she's trying to overcome her apparent alcoholism, good. But if she is, and she didn't tell her exasperated lawyer, or coordinate with her patient judge, or notify the I-can't-believe-this-crap-is-happening prosecutor, she's an idiot.
And she may be an idiot.
Or she may be an entitled princess who thinks her race and gender make her untouchable.
Or she may be so socially backward that she can't even be honest with a system that is deciding her fate.
But she's something, and it's something not good, and it's something that needs to come to an end.
So the administrative judges -- one in New York City and another in Canandaigua -- made her an appointment for next Monday morning at 9. Show up and receive "further administrative instruction."
"A failure to report in timely fashion will be deemed a serious breach of judicial responsibilities," the letter said.
And that gets back to "the voluntary abandonment of public office."
Which leads to her not being a judge anymore.
Which is the only acceptable outcome at this point.