Newly appointed Judges Ernest Green Jr. and Kimberly A. Knox donned black robes Monday morning and presided over cases for the first time at courthouses in New London and Norwich.

Green and Knox are among the 13 judges nominated by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in May and confirmed by the General Assembly. The new judges underwent training and on Friday received their first judicial assignments.

Green, of Norwich, who had worked as a public defender since 2003, is assigned to the Geographical Area 10 courthouse on Broad Street in New London. Senior Judge Emmet L. Cosgrove had been hearing the G.A. 10 cases most recently, and last week staff members marked his departure with a pizza party.

During his first few hours as "his honor," Green met with prosecutors and defense attorneys in his chambers, then assumed the bench to hear dozens of cases on the docket. He arraigned a state trooper charged with an assault, imposed sentences in cases that had been worked out by other judges, and issued protective orders in domestic violence cases.

Green took the time to greet every defendant who stood before him, but told them, "Through counsel, please" when they tried to address him about their cases without going through their attorneys. He looked unfazed when a man for whom he set bond mumbled as a judicial marshal led him into the courthouse lockup and before the door closed screamed an obscenity that could be heard throughout the courtroom. 

Knox, of West Hartford, assigned to the Geographical Area Courthouse 21 in Norwich, also had a busy docket on her first day on the bench, according to court officials. Prior to her nomination to the bench, she had served as a principal at the law firm of Horton, Shields & Knox PC in Hartford, focusing on appellate litigation in the Connecticut Appellate Courts and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge John M. Newson, who had been assigned to the Norwich arraignment court, as it's called, will now be hearing cases at G.A. 11 in Danielson.

k.florin@theday.com