Medical examiner: Judge in river died by suicide in drowning

Medical examiner: Judge in river died by suicide in drowning | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this June 1, 2016 file photo, Associate Court of Appeals Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam speaks during oral arguments at the Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. On Wednesday, July 26, 2017, the New York City Medical Examiner ruled Abdus-Salaam died by suicide in a drowning. Her body was recovered from the Hudson River by a New York Police Department Harbor Unit on April 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

NEW YORK – A prominent judge found in the Hudson River died by suicide in a drowning, according to findings issued by the city’s medical examiner on Wednesday.

A police harbour unit recovered the body of 65-year-old Sheila Abdus-Salaam in April after she was reported missing. Initially after her body was found, family and friends raised the possibility of foul play and pushed back against the idea that she would have harmed herself. Her family disputed the notion that she suffered from depression.

Abdus-Salaam was the first black woman on New York state’s highest court.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Abdus-Salaam to the state’s Court of Appeals in 2013. He called her a “trailblazing jurist” whose legacy “will be felt for years to come.”

Abdus-Salaam graduated from Barnard College and Columbia Law School.

She started her career as a staff attorney for East Brooklyn Legal Services. She served as a judge on the Manhattan state Supreme Court for 14 years.

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