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NJ Judge Was Full of 'Holiday Spirit,' Alcohol When Groped Court Staff

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on February 20, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Holiday party debauchery is nothing new for the scores of BigLaw associates out there. In fact, it's practically a rite of passage. But judges? They've got reputations to uphold.

Except when they're drinking, that is. New Jersey Superior Court Judge Marquis Jones, Jr. would be proof of this fact. He's been accused of groping female probation officers at a 2010 party.

He blames all the alcohol he consumed as a result of the "Holiday spirit."

The New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed a formal complaint against Judge Jones in January after hearing from a female probation office who works with the judge. She apparently invited him to a holiday party being thrown by the Probation Association of New Jersey.

Once there, he purchased a number of drinks, and is said to have then "inappropriately touched multiple female probation officers .... and made several inappropriate and/or sexually suggestive remarks to these women."

In a just-filed response, Judge Jones explains that he conveniently "does not have any recall" of these events. But if he "was inappropriate, it was perhaps the result of having a little too much drink, in the Holiday spirit."

If the "Holiday spirit" made him get drunk, who made him grope fellow employees?

The excuse is weak, and Judge Marquis Jones knows it. He goes on to take full responsibility for the grope session, adding that he is mortified and embarrassed by the events in question.

He should also be mortified by his lame excuse.

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