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3. Seeing double standard, 5th Circuit judge…

Judiciary

Seeing double standard, 5th Circuit judge resigns from judicial group over threats statement

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 11, 2025, 3:32 pm CDT

A federal appeals judge has said he has resigned from the Federal Judges Association because it issued a statement against recent judicial threats but apparently said nothing in defense of conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Judge James C. Ho of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans announced his resignation at an event by the Federalist Society, a conservative group, on Saturday, report Bloomberg Law, Reuters and Law.com.

The March 5 statement by the Federal Judges Association said judges must be permitted to do their jobs without fear of violence or intimidation.

The Federal Judges Association statement said the group appreciates Chief Justice John Roberts and others who have “commented recently on the rise in criticism, threats and violence aimed at members of the judiciary. Irresponsible rhetoric shrouded in disinformation undermines the public’s confidence that our justice system can fulfill its constitutional duties.”

The group made the statement amid impeachment threats and criticism regarding judges who have ruled against the Trump administration.

“Did we see these statements in 2024 or 2023 or 2022? From what I can tell, no,” Ho said. “You can’t say that you’re in favor of judicial independence only when it comes to decisions that you like. That’s not protecting the judiciary. That’s politicizing the judiciary.”

Ho mentioned the 2022 arrest of a man armed with a gun and zip ties near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and criticism of Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito.

Ho is an appointee of President Donald Trump during his first term. He previously announced that he is boycotting the hiring of clerks from law schools that he thinks have mishandled student protests or stifled conservative views.

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3. Town court judge resigns after using this…

Judiciary

Town court judge resigns after using this excuse to avoid jury duty

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 4, 2025, 3:17 pm CST

A town court judge in Rensselaer County, New York, has resigned after allegedly asserting that he should not serve on a grand jury because he is a judge, and he thinks that people who appear in his court are guilty.

Judge Richard T. Snyder of the Petersburgh Town Court in New York agreed to resign and never return to the bench, according to a Feb. 4 press release by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Snyder made the comments in October 2023 after expressing concern that he could not serve because he wouldn’t be able to return to his court in time for evening sessions, according to a transcript and a November 2024 complaint by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“I know everybody come in front of me, I know they are guilty. They would not be in front of me,” Snyder allegedly said.

After being told to take a seat, Snyder raised his hand and approached the Rensselaer County judge presiding over the grand jury empanelment, according to the transcript.

“I just think I cannot do it because being a judge and everything,” Snyder said.

“You don’t think you can be impartial?” the grand jury judge asked.

“No. It would not be fair,” Snyder replied.

When appearing for testimony in the ethics case in July 2024, Snyder said he thought that people who appear before him “did something wrong,” and “that’s how they got a ticket,” the ethics complaint says.

Snyder did say, however, he knows that people who are charged are innocent until proven guilty, and there must be proof of the crime.

“In my court, I treat everybody the same: equal, fair, honest,” he said.

“I try to get everybody on the right track, you know, work with them and help them out,” he said.

Snyder also said during the disciplinary hearing he didn’t want to serve on the grand jury because he cares for a grandchild, and his family is his No. 1 priority. He said he should have mentioned that to the grand jury judge, but he figured that he wasn’t going to be picked because he is a judge.

Snyder represented himself before the commission. He is not a lawyer, but he did take judicial training. He has been a judge since 2014.

The ABA Journal was unable to reach Snyder by emailing and phoning the town court where he used to work.

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3. Judge resigns for second time after he’s…

Judiciary

Judge resigns for second time after he’s accused of staging fake proceeding

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 6, 2025, 11:23 am CST

A New York judge has resigned for a second time for allegedly staging a sham proceeding, but this time, he won’t be returning to the bench.

Judge Louis P. Violanti of the Lackawanna City Court in Erie County, New York, resigned Jan. 23 and agreed never to return, according to a Feb. 5 press release and documents noted by the Legal Profession Blog.

Violanti first resigned in March 2013 but made no promises that he wouldn’t return, according to the press release, a Jan. 2 stipulation and an August 2024 ethics complaint. He resigned the first time after learning that he was under investigation for allegedly staging a sham proceeding in January 2013 to dismiss a traffic charge for an acquaintance.

No prosecutor was present for the proceeding, and a police officer posed as the traffic defendant, according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“Following the sham proceeding, and on the basis of fictitious evidence,” Violanti dismissed the charge, the ethics complaint said. The acquaintance had been accused of driving with a suspended vehicle registration.

The sham-proceedings allegation led to a two-year suspension of Violanti’s law license. The suspension decision by the Appellate Division’s Fourth Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court said mitigating factors included Violanti’s “longtime and substantial community involvement,” his sincere expression of remorse, and his advice that all parties cooperate in the ethics investigation.

Violanti was reinstated to practice in March 2016. The mayor of Lackawanna, New York, appointed Violanti to a six-year term on the city court in March 2024. Five months later, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct filed a new ethics complaint based on the same 2013 proceeding.

Robert H. Tembeckjian, the commission’s administrator, said in the press release Violanti “would have been removed in 2013,” making him “constitutionally ineligible to return” to the bench if the commission had not been constrained by time limits in the law.

“A decade later, he came back” to the bench, Tembeckjian said, “only to face discipline and agree to the inevitable: permanent departure from the bench.”

Violanti commented in a statement forwarded to the ABA Journal by his lawyer, Rodney O. Personius of Personius Melber.

“While now over a dozen years old” Violanti said of the proceeding, “I once again acknowledge my poor exercise of judgment in resolving a traffic citation for a close friend that arose from a mistake made by his auto insurance carrier. The disposition of the citation was not the issue, as recognized by the district attorney at the time.

“Whether I required the defendant to come to court or not, the underlying charge was subject to dismissal due to the insurance company’s error. At the time, I took full responsibility for my improper handling of this matter, which included voluntarily resigning from my judicial post and accepting without opposition the two-year sanction imposed by the appellate division.

“I understood the matter ended at that point, and therefore accepted the reappointment to the bench that was offered to me almost 12 months ago. I have since served the Lackawanna community honorably and competently as its associate judge. When this old matter resurfaced and my timeliness objection was denied, I decided the public, particularly our community, would be best served if I simply stepped aside. I am forever grateful for having had this additional opportunity, however brief, to again contribute to the good of our city.”

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3. Judge resigns after this alleged response…

Judiciary

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.

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3. Judge resigns amid Jan. 6 rally probe; ‘I…

Judiciary

Judge resigns amid Jan. 6 rally probe; ‘I would do it over again’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 30, 2024, 11:49 am CDT

A New York village and town court judge has agreed to resign amid an investigation into his attendance at a Jan. 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C.

Judge Donald R. Spaccio of New York agreed to resign effective Oct. 7, according to a Sept. 27 press release and a Sept. 19 decision by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Spaccio, who is not a lawyer, agreed to never again seek judicial office.

Spaccio had testified during the commission investigation that he didn’t participate in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6. But he told the New York Law Journal at Law.com that he participated in a rally beforehand.

“Yeah, I went to [former President Donald] Trump’s rally. There’s a lot of things that are wrong with our country right now, so that’s why I felt I needed to be there,” Spaccio told the legal publication. “I would do it over again. We lose our rights when we go on the bench, and it’s not right.”

Judges can’t participate in political activities outside a period when running for office, according to the judicial conduct commission.

Spaccio has been a judge on the Montour Falls Village Court since November 2001 and the Montour Town Court in Schuyler County, New York, since January 2005, according to a stipulation.

The commission was also investigating complaints that Spaccio:

  • Shouted at police officers and invoked his judicial office when they asked him to remove a propane cannon from the roof of his building.

  • Yelled profanities at a Montour code enforcement officer during a dispute.

Spaccio told the New York Law Journal that he put up the propane “bird cannon” because a neighboring business had a vacuum on its roof that was just as loud, and he was frustrated by village inaction. His plan was to run the bird cannon when the vacuum was running.

Spaccio said he shouted at police officers when they threatened to arrest him for disorderly conduct over the propane cannon.

Spaccio also told the New York Law Journal that he resigned because he couldn’t afford the cost of a lawyer.

Robert H. Tembeckjian, the commission’s administrator, commented on Spaccio’s resignation in the press release.

“Judges may not engage in political activity except for a limited time when running for office, and even then, there are constraints on what they may do,” Tembeckjian said. “Whether or not a judge was a candidate, attending the rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was impermissible. So is invoking one’s judicial title in the midst a testy personal dispute.”

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Criminal Justice

Murder trial delayed for slain law prof’s mother-in-law after her lead lawyer resigns

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 18, 2024, 1:21 pm CDT

A Florida woman accused in the July 2014 murder of her son-in-law, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law, won’t be going to trial in Tallahassee, Florida, this week because of the resignation of her lead attorney.

Lawyer Dan Rashbaum resigned Tuesday, the same day that jury selection was to begin in the murder trial of 74-year-old Donna Adelson, report the Tallahassee Democrat (here and here), WTXL and Florida Politics.

The resignation could open up possible new defense for Adelson, according to a lawyer on the defense team who is now her lead lawyer.

Rashbaum represented Donna Adelson and her son, dentist Charlie Adelson, who was convicted in November 2023 for hiring hit men to kill professor Dan Markel. Donna Adelson is accused of being part of the murder plot, allegedly carried out during a custody battle between Markel and Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Adelson. The alleged motive was to allow Wendi Adelson to move with the children from Tallahassee, Florida, to be near her family in Miami.

Charlie Adelson had contended at his trial that he was a victim of an extortion plot carried out by the two men who killed Markel.

Rashbaum cited a potential conflict of interest that arose after Charlie Adelson was subpoenaed to testify in his mother’s trial. On Monday, Charlie Adelson’s appellate team filed a notice advising that he didn’t consent to Rashbaum cross-examining him and no longer consented to Rashbaum representing his mother, according to Robert “Alex” Morris, Donna Adelson’s new lead lawyer.

Donna Adelson told Judge Stephen Everett in Leon County, Florida, that she consented to the joint representation. She was arrested at the Miami International Airport a week after Charlie Adelson’s conviction. She and her husband were buying one-way tickets to Vietnam.

Morris spoke with reporters outside the courthouse in an interview posted by WTXL.

Morris said everyone was aware of a potential conflict, but waivers were in place until Charlie Adelson revoked consent, as he had a right to do. That ended the “game plan, if you will, and necessitated a different one,” he said.

“Ultimately, the, the question is, is whether or not their positions are at odds with one another, and there’s absolutely the potential of that,” Morris said.

Rashbaum’s resignation “opens up pathways to, in exploring different defenses that may not have been previously available,” Morris said.

He also mentioned the possibility of a plea deal. “You never know,” he said.

See also:

Did dentist hire hit men to kill law prof Dan Markel, his ex-brother-in-law? ‘Absolutely no,’ he testifies

Defense blames law prof’s murder on extortion plot; lawyer ex-wife denies family involvement

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3. Longtime prosecutor resigns after judge tosses…

Prosecutors

Longtime prosecutor resigns after judge tosses him from case, citing Perry Mason-type revelations

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 14, 2024, 10:09 am CDT

Longtime Miami-Dade County, Florida, prosecutor Michael Von Zamft has resigned after a judge disqualified him and a colleague from the resentencing of an alleged gang leader convicted of four murders.

Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson of the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Miami-Dade County said newly discovered evidence suggested that witness testimony had been manipulated in the prosecution of gang leader Corey Smith, and that jailed witnesses had been granted favors, including conjugal visits, for their cooperation.

Wolfson also cited a recorded phone call between Von Zamft and a jailed witness that could be viewed as a “cryptic message” about eliminating an unreliable witness, although the judge did not accept that interpretation.

The Associated Press, the Miami Herald, Local10.com and Law.com have coverage of Wolfson’s March 6 decision.

“On television, Perry Mason, defense attorney extraordinaire, always managed to find the smoking gun at the end of every episode,” Wolfson wrote. “In real life, this happens very rarely. It happened here.”

Wolfson tossed Von Zamft from the case, saying he had a “prosecutorial philosophy of winning at all costs.” She also disqualified a second prosecutor who “emphatically argued” that no unethical conduct had happened, she wrote. But she rejected a request to disqualify the entire Miami-Dade state attorney’s office.

Smith was being resentenced because he was sentenced to death in two of the murders based on less-than-unanimous juror votes, a practice that was banned in a 2017 Florida law.

Wolfson cited evidence supporting disqualification presented in a multiple day hearing “regarding over 20 years of allegations of misconduct” in the case.

Wolfson said the state’s treatment of discovery in the case “has been questionable throughout the litigation process.” Multiple representations by Von Zamft regarding discovery “can best be described as the continuous movement of the goal line away from the defense team,” she said.

She also cited evidence of witness coordination.

Three cooperating witnesses had testified that they had been taken to the Miami Police Department’s homicide unit to coordinate testimony in the Smith case. One of those witnesses had first made the claim in a January 2023 affidavit, but he changed his story after meeting with two prosecution investigators allegedly sent by Von Zamft.

Further evidence included a recorded August 2022 phone call between Von Zamft and a co-defendant, Latravis Gallashaw, who became a cooperating witness. During the call, they discussed problems with witnesses in the Smith case.

Gallashaw asked whether Von Zamft had considered “rehabilitating” an inmate named Jones. Von Zamft said there had been a problem with Jones’ contradictory statements. Von Zamft said he was trying to arrange a prison courtyard meeting between Gallashaw, Jones and an inmate who was a witness in another case, but his request was turned down.

“But the gun did not stop smoking there,” Wolfson said, carrying on her Perry Mason reference.

In the call, Von Zamft complained that Tricia Geter, a cooperating witness and Smith’s former girlfriend, was unpredictable. She gave full and complete testimony in the prior trial, however, he said.

“If I call her and she refuses, then I will find a way to make her unavailable, and then I can read her whole testimony,” Von Zamft said.

“You would want to do that?” Gallashaw asked.

Von Zamft replied that he didn’t want to do it.

“I’d rather she testified and did a good job. But can I count on it? No,” Von Zamft said.

Wolfson said the phone call “totally and completely corroborates Ms. Geter’s testimony that she got mad at Mr. Von Zamft in 2023 after he told her that if she was dead, he would simply read her prior testimony into the record.”

“It is important to reiterate the context of the interaction between Mr. Von Zamft and Mr. Gallashaw,” Wolfson wrote. “Mr. Gallashaw is a convicted murderer in a case that involves witness elimination. Mr. Von Zamft, a highly trained lawyer, knew who he was talking to. At best, Mr. Von Zamft’s use of the words ‘make her unavailable’ is reckless considering the audience.

“To be clear, this court does not believe that Mr. Von Zamft was sending a cryptic message to Mr. Gallashaw to eliminate Ms. Geter. However, reasonable minds may reach a different conclusion based on the totality of circumstances in this case.”

Geter told the Miami Herald that she fears for her life because of threatening messages that she has received. She learned of the phone call about making her unavailable about two weeks ago.

“Why would you tell him you don’t want me available?” Geter asked in a newspaper interview with the Miami Herald. “It’s unethical that this officer of the state attorney’s office would be conspiring with a known killer.”

Wolfson sent a copy of her opinion to the Florida Bar. Von Zamft told the ABA Journal that because the matter has been referred to the bar, his attorney has instructed him not to comment.

A member of the Arizona state legislature resigned on Wednesday just before a vote likely to result in her expulsion from the chamber. The resignation comes just days after an ethics panel determined the now-former elected official threatened to kill a city lobbyist.

Leezah Sun, a Democrat, previously represented Phoenix as one of three members of the Grand Canyon States’s Legislative District 22.

During a House Ethics Committee hearing last week, two lobbyists testified Sun told them if she saw the other lobbyist in question at a conference held in August 2023, she would physically harm her.

“I will b–––– slap her, throw her over the balcony and kill her,” Sun said, according to the witnesses. The panel, in turn, endorsed that narrative.