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Judge resigns after this alleged response to uninvited party guests

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 23, 2024, 11:20 am CST

A New York judge has agreed to resign and never against seek judicial office after she was accused of engaging “in a racially offensive, profane, prolonged public diatribe” stemming from a graduation party fight in which her son was injured.

Judge Erin P. Gall of New York’s trial-level supreme court in Oneida County, New York, revealed her decision in a motion filed Wednesday with the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, report Law.com, the New York Times and the Times Union.

Gall said her two sons had received several death threats after the incident resulted in national news coverage, and “the fear has been immeasurable and terrifying. I do not believe that I can move forward with arguing this appeal for fear that my family will be put in danger once again.”

Gall was accused of threatening to shoot four Black teenagers if they returned to the property to look for lost keys following the July 2022 high school graduation party. She also allegedly told a police officer that her son would be going to business school in the fall, whereas the four Black teens “don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.”

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct had sought removal from office in a July 17 determination.

The problems began after several people thought to be uninvited guests arrived at the party sometime after 11 p.m., and one of them overturned a tray of food, according to the commission. People were talking loudly, some using vulgarities, and confrontations were escalating. Gall’s husband and then-18-year-old son began shepherding guests away from a tent and to the street.

At some point, Gall’s son was slapped and brought to the ground, where he was “kicked, punched, stomped on and beaten by a group of uninvited unknown individuals,” Gall said in her reply to the ethics charges.

Gall, who is white, yelled at the four Black teens to leave, telling them that she was a judge. She also identified herself as a judge when police arrived. She “repeatedly invoked her judicial office, threatened gun violence, and both criticized and pledged favored treatment for the police,” the commission had alleged.

Gall is asking the New York Court of Appeals to make no specific findings other than removal to avoid exposing her family to more danger.

“I certainly do not think it fair to characterize my reactions as racially motivated and to stigmatize me with that finding based on the facts in the case,” she added.