Judge Sinfield

Judge Sinfield
Illustration by John Higgins
Publication information
Publisher	Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD prog 1629 (2009)
Created by	John Wagner, Carl Critchlow
In-story information
Full name	Martin Sinfield

Judge Martin Sinfield is a fictional supporting character and antagonist in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He is a main character in the story "Tour of Duty" (2009–10). He was acting chief judge of Mega-City One in 2132.

Judge Sinfield was the head of Traffic Division until 2120, when he was transferred to take charge of re-organising Administration. In 2131, when Chief Judge Hershey's controversial policy of granting citizenship to mutants resulted in a dramatic fall in her popularity, Sinfield was one of three senior judges (with Cardew and Millan) who led a campaign to remove her from office in a recall election. When this triumvirate's chosen candidate, Judge Dan Francisco, was seriously injured in an assassination attempt, Francisco easily won the election and became chief judge. Sinfield's reward was promotion to deputy chief judge, and consequently he served as acting chief judge while Francisco remained in hospital, recovering from his wounds. From this position, Sinfield easily established himself as the real power behind the throne.

One of their first acts was to exile Judges Dredd and Hershey from the city for their role in promoting mutant rights. Dredd was sent to the Cursed Earth to oversee the construction of four new mutant townships which were being set up in the Cursed Earth to house the recently deported mutants.

Like many judges, Sinfield has been cloned. When Sinfield's clone, Judge March, was given his Final Assessment, Judge Rico found him wanting and failed him, incurring Sinfield's ire. In revenge, Sinfield exiled Rico to the Cursed Earth townships as well. Due to Sinfield's mediocrity, Dredd and Rico suspected that he had corruptly sneaked his DNA onto the cloning program. However their efforts to prove this met a dead end.