Czajka v. Koweek

Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (initiated in this Court pursuant to CPLR 506 [b] [1]) to prohibit respondent County Judge of Columbia County from enforcing an order which, among other things, disqualified petitioner and his staff from further prosecuting a criminal case against respondent Nicholas Fox and appointed a special district attorney.

A defendant in a criminal case should not find himself or herself in the unenviable position of being prosecuted by the former judge who had earlier presided over the case. Judiciary Law § 17 bars such a practice and petitioner’s application…