Articles

JUDICIAL PROFILE: HON KENNETH N. BROWNE

By Michael Goldsmith

Although the Hon. Kenneth N. Browne studied engineering, divinity, accounting and law at various institutions, was a decorated war hero, and a successful politician, he learned about justice at his Grandmother's knee. "Justice equals decency", he was taught. "If we are all decent to each other, we will all get along fine."

Justice Browne was born in Harlem on Lennox Avenue between 130th and 131st Streets in 1923. In 1940, shortly after his graduation from DeWitt Clinton High School, his family moved to East Elmhurst. The future judge studied engineering at McGill University in Montreal, until heeding the call of his country to begin his military service in 1942.

As a young G.I., Justice Browne served in North Africa in the Engineering Corps., until he was wounded in June, 1943. Sent stateside to recuperate, he was assigned to further pursue his studies in engineering at West Virginia State College in the Army Specialized Training Program. In March, 1944, Justice Browne was transferred to Ft. Bragg, N.C. for jump training. Justice Browne next saw combat after he jumped from an airplane into a small French town near the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Justice Browne later was a participant in the Battle of the Bulge, and made the Rhine Crossing into Germany. Master Sergeant Browne received his honorable discharge on 3/10/46. As a result of his service, he was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster; the European, African Middle Eastern Medal, with four battle stars, the American Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

A grateful nation, through the G.I. Bill, helped the returning veteran obtain his B.S. Degree in Accounting from Long Island University in 1952, and later his L.L.B., J.D. and S.J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

In 1954, Justice Browne became a partner in the law firm of Caldwell and Browne. From 1956 to 1957, he served as a Law Enforcement Agent with the U.S. Treasury Department. In 1959 Justice Browne was appointed an Assistant District Attorney in Queens County by District Attorney Frank D. O'Connor. Justice Browne served five years at the D.A.'s office and eventually rose to become the Deputy Chief of the Appeals Bureau.

Justice Browne then tried his hand at politics. In 1964, he was elected as the first black Assemblyman in the County of Queens. He was re-elected in 1965, and the next year he served as a member of the Codes Committee and Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Social Security and Aging. In 1968, he was elected as the first black Civil Court Judge in the County of Queens, and served in that capacity until 1973, when he was elected as the first black Justice of the Supreme Court in Queens County history. Justice Browne is still sitting in the Criminal Term of the Supreme Court.

Justice Browne enjoys presiding in the Criminal Term because "no two cases are exactly alike." Justice Browne has had several well publicized cases. He presided in the murder trial of York and LaBoarde, two Black Panthers who were accused of shooting two police officers, one fatally. York was represented by the late, flamboyant civil rights attorney, William Kunsler. During the trial, Mr. Kunsler's client was acting up, trying to disrupt the trial. Justice Browne's options were to either gag and restrain York, or to remove him from the courtroom. The judge opted to have the defendant removed from the court, but enabled him to hear the proceedings and to communicate with his attorney with radio devices. Kunsler objected, and said that if his client couldn't be there, he shouldn't be there either, and tried to walk out of the courtroom. Justice Browne then had Kunsler put into the holding cell until he had a change of heart. Later that afternoon, Kunsler appeared before the judge and apologized for his behavior. Justice Browne and Bill Kunsler later became friends, and Kunsler later confided to the judge that it was the bad cheese sandwiches that he was served in jail that prompted him to have a change of heart. The defendants were later convicted of attempted murder, but the jury hung at 11-1 to convict on the charge of murder.

Justice Browne also presided in the trial of FALN bomber Willie Morales. Morales had the novel argument that he should be treated as a prisoner of war because at the time of the Spanish-American War, Spain and Puerto Rico had an alliance that specified that Spain could not enter any treaty involving Puerto Rico without Puerto Rico's consent. The treaties made by Spain with the U.S. ending the war were illegal, because Puerto Rico was not consulted, and therefore, Puerto Rico was still at war with America. Justice Browne decided against the defendants's claims, reasoning that because the Puerto Rican people had a plebiscite to be associated with the United States, the war was over, and Morales could be tried in Queens County. Morales was later convicted, but escaped from detention even though his hands were severely injured by one of his bombs. About 10 years later, he was arrested in Mexico for the murder of a police officer.

Presiding over these highly publicized trials led Justice Browne to reflect that "The law is sometimes political, and we shouldn't let it be. If we start asking whose ox got gored before we can do justice, justice will not be served."

Justice Browne had nothing but praise for the criminal bar that practices in Queens County. "Criminal practice is not the most lucrative, but the attorneys who practice believe it is right for justice, and that is all right." Justice Browne appreciates the lawyers who supported him over the years, and has nothing but respect for the bar of Queens County.

Justice Browne has taught seminars on Trial Advocacy as a Lecturer at the University of the Virgin Islands form 1979 to the present. He also served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at York College from 1984 to 1988, where he taught Business Law. In 1989, he was awarded a D.D.W. (Doctor of Divine Wisdom-Honoris Causa) from the New Seminary at Columbia University. He presently serves as a member of the Board of Visitors at CUNY Law School. Justice Browne's hobbies include gardening, and he is quite proud of his roses.

Justice Brown has been married to the former Shirley Ann Session for 40 years this coming August. He was a daughter and two sons, nine grandchildren, and is a great grandfather two times, and counting.