Democratic Nominee for Naugatuck District Judge of Probate Peter Mariano Seeks to Run Unopposed for Re-election after 4 Arrests, Jail Term, and Probation.

Peter Mariano was arrested in 2021 three times for driving under the influence of alcohol and twice for driving while his license was suspended. He was sentenced to four days in prison in May of this year. Shortly after Mariano, a Republican, was released from prison, Democrats in Beacon Falls, Middlebury, Naugatuck and Prospect nominated him as their candidate in November’s election.

Republicans nominated state Representative Rosa Rebimbas as their candidate. Mariano received enough votes to participate in an August 9th primary. If Mariano wins the primary, he will be unopposed in November.

Mariano was deemed incapacitated and unable to practice law in April 2021. That status remains unchanged. In January of this year, Mariano sought to have his license to practice law reinstated to active status. More than six months later, Mariano is still ineligible to practice law due to his incapacity. The court declined to seal the medical records Mariano submitted and they confirm his utterances to police officers arresting him at various times in 2021. He did not like going to rehab and suffered several relapses.

The most recent medical record Mariano has submitted to the action brought by the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel is from December 2021. For a judge to be ineligible to practice law and be on probation with a further prison sentence hanging over him after having served a short term of incarceration is extraordinary in any state, but particularly Connecticut.

Video recordings of Mariano’s arrests while drunk and sober show the same alarming pattern: He tells the arresting officers he’s a judge and knows their bosses in the local police department.

The Code of Probate Judicial Conduct states in its first canon: A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety. The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge violated this Code or engaged in other conduct that reflects adversely on the judge’s honesty, impartiality, temperament or fitness to serve as a judge.

If this does not violate that essential canon of conduct, the Code has no meaning.

Published August 2, 2022.