NY judge censured for comparing other jurist, worker to steamy ‘Body Heat’ stars

He’s the one feeling the heat now.

An upstate judge is in hot water for suggesting another jurist was having a steamy relationship with a local government worker — a la William Hurt and Kathleen Turner in the flick “Body Heat.”

Rossie Town Judge Philip Gentile was presiding over his St. Lawrence County courtroom in January 2023 when he claimed on the side to a prosecutor that a jurist and code-enforcement officer in a neighboring town were “very tight” — comparing their relationship to the racy 1981 hit movie, according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Friday.

Gentile had appeared before the unnamed other judge on a private zoning matter, which the enforcement officer was a part of, the Times Union reported.

“It was kind of like … Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in ‘Body Heat,’ you know, because they were so … close in the court that they were finishing each other’s sentences and stuff,” Gentile said of the other judge and the enforcement officer — comments picked up on his own court’s recording device.

The commission’s report on the incident included a footnote that described Hurt and Turner’s characters as being in “a passionate affair” and involved in a “plot to murder the latter’s husband,” the outlet said.

Gentile’s comments earned him a censure, or formal reprimand.

“It undermines the judicial obligation to be fair and impartial when a judge bases decisions on outside conversations to which one or more parties are not privy and cannot counter,” the commission said in its ruling.

“Nor does it enhance the integrity of the court for a judge to utter profanities on the bench or spread baseless gossip about other judges or public officials. The commission expects Judge Gentile to
be more sensitive to these and his other judicial obligations going forward.”

According to the judicial commission, Gentile “has acknowledged that his conduct was improper and warrants public discipline.”

The wisecrack comment wasn’t the only thing that has gotten Gentile in trouble.

Between November 2022 and March 2024, Gentile also spoke to a prosecutor in an assault case but refused to share the conversation with a defense lawyer, balked at modifying an order of protection after having a private conversation and “uttered profanities in court,” the commission said.

Gentile, who is not a lawyer — and is not required to be by local law — has served as a judge in Rossie since 2018. His current term runs out in December.