A New York State Judge He has resigned after he left the jury duty claiming that he could not be impartial, because he thought that all those brought before a court are guilty.
Richard T. Snyder, who had been a judge of the Court of the city of Petersburgh for approximately a decade, left his position after being accused of misconduct for a State Judicial CommissionThe authorities said Tuesday.
According to judicial transcripts, Snyder tried to avoid serving in a jury in 2023 first identifying as a judge and then saying: “I know that everyone is facing me. I know they are guilty. They would not be facing me”
He was finally fired to serve in the jury after continuing arguing that he could not be impartial, saying “No. would not be fair”, the judicial transcripts of a special jury packing in the Rensselaer county show.
The judge who supervised the jury selection informed Snyder to state officials.
At a hearing of the Judicial Commission the following year, Snyder said he understood that the defendants should be considered innocent until it is demonstrated that it is demonstrated, but that he still felt that people would not be in court if they did not commit crimes .
“I meant that they were guilty because they did something wrong. But they are not guilty until they come to court. They are innocent until they are demonstrated to guilt,” he told the commission.
“They did something wrong. That’s why they got a ticket. But they are not guilty,” he added.
Snyder, who was chosen as justice, is not a lawyer and has never agreed to serve as a judge again.
Public records did not list a telephone number for Snyder. The voice emails that remain with the court of the city of Petersburgh were not immediately returned.
Petersburgh is a small town outside Albany, near the New York border, with Vermont and Massachusetts. It has a population of approximately 1,400 people, according to census data.
In a statement, Robert H. Eseckjian, administrator of the New York State Commission on judicial conduct, said that “there is no place in the bank for someone who deeply misunderstands the role of a judge and the administration of justice.”
“It is quite bad that a judge seeks to avoid civic responsibility as fundamental as the jury service. It is surprising that the judge claimed the inability to be impartial and declare under oath that the accused must be guilty or would not be in court” , said.
The courts in New York do not offer automatic exemptions of jury duties to anyone, including judges.
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