After mishandling numerous cases, a town judge in Chenango County has been censured.

Joan Kline was the Guilford town justice up until the end of the year, but she also held several other roles in Oxford and Bainbridge, including serving as judge and court clerk.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct says the conflicting roles led to some procedural misrepresentations. However, there were more serious mistakes -- in several cases, Kline is said to have acted in a manner that appeared to coerce a guilty plea.

Court paperwork shows she undermined the right for defendants to receive counsel, conveyed an appearance of bias, elicited incriminating responses from a defendant at an arraignment, and made discourteous and threatening comments.

According to the commission, there were more than a dozen cases where Kline failed to uphold the standards of conduct required of judges.

In their ruling, they made note that "the misconduct, while serious in many respects, does not rise to the level of "truly egregious" misbehavior which has been held to warrant the ultimate sanction of removal.