7 Action News caught up exclusively with Livingston County Judge Theresa Brennan this morning, as she arrived for a deposition in her ongoing legal battle with her estranged husband.
They are divorcing after it was revealed she was carrying on an alleged affair with a state police lieutenant who was the lead investigator on a murder trial she oversaw.
There is dispute over when the relationship began, but its raised serious ethical questions.
And so does what the 7 Investigators broke last night.
Depositions, as part of that divorce case, which shed more light on her professional life, including one from the judge's former clerk, who alleges she was told to perform personal errands, often on county time, from servicing Brennan's car, to fixing her home TV, to staining her deck.
She alleges, while on the bench, the judge instructed her to buy plane tickets for her and the Lt. to fly to Florida for a secret rendezvous.
The judge--appearing to use a county staffer to facilitate her alleged affair while on the clock and on a county computer.
We thought this elected judge owed us some answers.
"Can we talk to you for a minute?" a reporter asked when confronting the judge.
"No," she politely answered.
We reached out to her attorney, who also declined an interview.
The county prosecutor is now investigating. We asked him if the judge should still be on the bench with this cloud hanging over her.
He told us its up to the state Supreme Court to decide to suspend or remove a sitting judge.
