ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A federal jury convicted a former New York state judge Thursday of attempted extortion and attempted soliciting of a bribe for pressuring a lawyer to give $10,000 to his defense fund.

Federal prosecutors said Thomas Spargo pressured the lawyer, who had cases pending before Spargo when he was a state Supreme Court justice in 2003, to help the judge cover legal bills from an ongoing battle with the state’s judicial discipline committee.

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