A judge from Wayne County, New York, was publicly censured on Tuesday after she held a preliminary hearing for a defendant without his attorney present, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said.

Justice Kathy Wachtman of the Huron Town Court, who is not an attorney, agreed to the censure after denying a request to move the hearing by the defendant's attorney in 2017.

The hearing had initially been set for a day the defendant's attorney, James Riotto of Rochester, was available. It was then moved up a few days to a date when Riotto had an engagement at another court.

Riotto, on the same day the hearing was scheduled to be held, asked Wachtman to move it to a different day. Prosecutors opposed the change since a witness had been subpoenaed for the hearing and transportation had been arranged to bring the defendant from jail, according to the commission.

Wachtman rejected Riotto's request, according to the commission, and presided over the hearing without an attorney present for the defendant. During the hearing, Wachtman did not inform the defendant of his rights to testify, call witnesses, or cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses, the commission said.

The defendant ultimately pleaded down the charge after being remanded to incarceration and faced no additional time in jail.

Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said Wachtman's actions deprived the defendant of his ability to exercise his full rights under the law.

“It is fundamental to the role of a judge to ensure that defendants are not only apprised of their rights but also afforded a meaningful opportunity to exercise those rights. Derelictions of such essential duties, in even a single case, are serious violations of the rule requiring judges to be faithful to and professionally competent in the law,” Tembeckjian said. “To her credit, Judge Wachtman accepted responsibility and is expected to honor the rules scrupulously going forward.”

Wachtman was represented before the commission by Douglas Jablonski, a solo practitioner from Wayne County. Jablonski did not immediately return a call for comment on Tuesday.

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