New York Judge Found in Hudson River Ruled Suicide

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Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, listens to oral arguments on whether criminal defendants should be allowed to use allegations made in civil rights lawsuits against police witnesses to question their credibility during cross-examination at the Court of Appeals on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
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Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, listens to oral arguments on whether criminal defendants should be allowed to use allegations made in civil rights lawsuits against police witnesses to question their credibility during cross-examination at the Court of Appeals on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, listens to oral arguments on whether criminal defendants should be allowed to use allegations made in civil rights lawsuits against police witnesses to question their credibility during cross-examination at the Court of Appeals on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first African-American woman on the New York Court of Appeals, was found dead last month in the Hudson River. At the time, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said NYPD had completed its investigation into her death and found no foul play. They concluded that her death likely was a suicide.

In the latest development, the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced last week that cause of death was drowning. ” It’s an incredibly sad situation,” Eric Phillips, spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, told USA TODAY via e-mail Wednesday. “The legal community and our entire city are very much reeling from the loss.”

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