Hudson Falls Judge Avoids Removal From Office
Posted on Wednesday, 25 of November , 2009 at 5:45 pm
HUDSON FALLS—In a 6-3 vote, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct has censured Hudson Falls Village Court judge Michael M. Feeder for engaging in numerous acts of misconduct.
Three of the commission members had voted to remove Feeder from office.
A censure amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist and public embarrassment.
The commission found that in one instance, the judge confronted a motorist and identified himself as a judge, used his judicial power to cause the arrest of the motorist and commented publicly about the case while it was pending.
The judge also had an out-of-court conversation with a defendant’s mother who asked him not to sentence the defendant to jail, then sentenced the defendant according to the request; granted an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal in a case without the required consent of the prosecution; and presided over cases close friendship with the assistant chief of police, who in at least one case appeared before the judge personally.
“This series of misdeeds, which are essentially undisputed, shows insensitivity to the high ethical standards required of judges and warrants a severe sanction,” the commission said in its determination.
Robert Tembeckjian, commission administrator, had recommended that Judge Feeder be removed from office.
Feeder had been served with a formal written complaint dated April 19, 2006, containing four charges, and a second formal written complaint dated Oct. 9, 2007, containing one charge.
On Jan. 29, 2008, the Commission granted a summary determination based on the judge’s failure to answer the charges. By stipulation, the parties agreed to vacate the summary determination.
On Aug. 13, 2008, five days before a hearing was held in the case, Feeder submitted his resignation, apparently thinking a resignation would close the case and the public wouldn’t learn of his misconduct.
But according to the commission, Feeder and the judicial panel had entered into a stipulation on March 5 2008 under which the parties agreed that if Feeder vacated office for any reason before the commission had rendered a determination on the merits of charges against him, the commission would make public the charges against Feeder.
And they did. When he learned that he couldn’t silence the commission, he withdrew his resignation saying that he was “humiliated” because the charges against him had been made public. A hearing was held before a referee, Michael J. Hutter on Aug. 18 and 19, 2008, in Albany.
Hutter filed a report with proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law dated June 29, 2009. The parties submitted briefs with respect to the referee’s report and the issue of sanctions. The commission heard oral argument on Sept. 23. The Commission filed a determination dated Nov. 18.
Feeder was represented by Lee C. Kindlon of Kindlon Shanks & Associates of Albany.
The commission had charged that Feeder:
- Improperly invoked the power and prestige of his judicial office to effect the arrest of a motorist, and thereafter took judicial action in the case against the motorist after the resulting charge was filed in his court. The judge also commented publicly on the case, at a time when it was pending;
- Made public statements supporting stronger penalties for the Village of Hudson Falls’ curfew ordinance, at a time when he was Hudson Falls Village Justice, before whom curfew violations were brought;
- Engaged an improper ex parte communication with the mother of a defendant;
- Granted a defendant an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, without notice to or the consent of the prosecution;
- Presided over numerous cases filed by members of the Hudson Falls
Village Police Department, without disclosing his personal friendship with
Hudson Falls Assistant Chief of Police Randy Diamond, who supervised other officers in the department who have filed and/or appeared before the judge in these cases.
Feeder, who is not an attorney, has served as a justice of the Hudson Falls Village Court since January 2003. From January 1998 to December 2005, he was also a justice of the Kingsbury Town Court.
http://www.scjc.state.ny.us/Determinations/F/feeder.pdf http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2008/08/23/judicial_disgrace/ http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2008/08/13/feeder_resigns/ http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/121605EditorialCaseGetsFruitier.html 11-25-09
Category: Courts, Good News, Government, New York State
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