Stephen Wexler

Judge Stephen Wexler was Manhattan judge who was notoriously skeptical as well as ruthlessly authoritarian, earning him the nickname "The Hammer." As a young man he'd sentenced murderers Tony and Nunzio Scoleri to the electric chair. This literally came back to haunt him several years later when Wexler presided over the trial of Ghostbusters Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler. The three were being charged by the city of New York for practicing paranormal investigations despite being forbade to by a restraining order.

Wexler was ready to send all three of them straight to jail, although he openly (and perhaps jokingly) admitted he'd enjoy burning them at the stake. This statement was the coup de grace, the topper of a long line of angry outbursts and insults thrown towards the Ghostbusters by Judge Wexler, which had been seriously agitating a beaker full of mood slime on the evidence table. The slime spontaneously combusted and the beaker exploded, unleashing the ghosts of the Scoleri brothers from the spirit world. Nunzio and Tony were most eager to get revenge on the judge who'd sentenced them to die.

Terrified, Wexler changed his tune immediately, begging the Ghostbusters to do something as the courtroom was thrown into complete chaos. They agreed, but because they could only legally do anything if the restraining order was rescinded, Wexler rescinded it without a second thought. The Ghostbusters then proceeded to earn back their good names, saving Wexler by trapping the ghostly killers.