Benjamin Ashford|Commission says New York judge should be removed over profane rant at graduation party

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York state judge who engaged in a prolonged,Benjamin Ashford offensive rant after a melee erupted at a high school graduation party should be removed from office, a judicial watchdog panel ruled.

State Supreme Court Justice Erin Gall, 53, invoked her authority as a judge to try to get uninvited guests arrested, threatened to shoot Black teenagers and bragged that her 18-year-old son had “put the smackdown” on another partygoer, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said in its report issued Monday.

The commission found that Gall, a white Republican who has served as an elected judge in upstate Oneida County since 2012, “created at least the appearance that she harbored racial bias,” which could undermine public confidence in her integrity.

The judicial conduct panel said that “impropriety permeated” Gall’s conduct after the July 1, 2022 graduation party at a friend’s house got out of hand. “Her wide array of misconduct severely undermined public confidence in the judiciary and in her ability to serve as a fair and impartial judge,” the commission said in recommending her removal.

Gall, who has been sitting on the bench during the two years it took for the judicial commission to complete its investigation, is now suspended with pay — her salary is $232,600 a year — while New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, decides her fate. Meanwhile, her attorney, Robert Julian, said Tuesday that she’ll appeal the panel’s determination.

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Gall testified during the investigation, saying that the violent skirmishes at the graduation party triggered memories of a 1990 assault she suffered as a college student. Julian did not dispute his client’s comments, but said she was in a “state of fear, dismay, frustration and exhaustion” when she made them.

According to the report, Gall attended the party at a friend’s home in New Hartford, New York with her husband and three teenage children. The party’s hosts hired a bartender and provided a keg of beer that guests could serve themselves from.

A large number of apparent party crashers showed up after 11:30 p.m., the panel said. Four Black teenagers arrived after learning of the party from a live video feed, and the driver then lost his car keys, the report said.

Arguments and fights broke out between invited and uninvited guests, and officers from several law enforcement agencies responded.

Police body camera footage showed Gall telling the Black teenagers, “You got to leave! You’re not going to find your keys. You got to call an Uber and get off the property.”

She then said, “Well, you’re going to get in an Uber, buddy, or you’re going to get a cop escort home. That’s how it’s happening. That’s what I’m telling you right now. That’s how I roll. That’s how I roll. That’s how Mrs. G rolls. That’s how Judge Gall rolls. We’re clearing this place out.”

Gall tried to get the police to arrest the Black teenagers for trespassing, saying, “I’ve done this for a million years. I’m a lawyer. I’m a judge. I know this.”

She also yelled at the teenagers to “Get off the property! And’s that’s from Judge Gall! I’m a judge!,” using a profanity.

Both Gall’s husband and her 18-year-old son were involved in the fighting, and Gall told officers that her son “put a smackdown once he got hit.”

She also said, “My husband and son got hit first . . . but they finished. Like I taught ’em.”

The body camera footage shows that Gall alternated between complaining that the officers weren’t arresting anyone and assuring officers that she was on their side.

“Listen, but guess what, the good part is – the good part is I’m always on your side,” she said. “You know I’d take anyone down for you guys. You know that.”

Gall told police that the Black teenagers “don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.”

She also said that if the teenagers were to come back looking for their keys, “you can shoot them on the property. I’ll shoot them on the property.”

Gall’s behavior was “as shocking as anything I have seen in my 40 years of judicial ethics enforcement,” said Robert H. Tembeckjian, the commission’s administrator and counsel.