Daughter Of The Clerk

The New York Commission on Judicial Conduct has admonished a town and acting village court justice.

This press release describes the conduct

 The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has determined that Richard L. Gumo, a Justice of the Delhi Town Court and an Acting Justice of the Walton Village Court, Delaware County, should be admonished for failing to disclose that a key witness in a case was the daughter of the court clerk, permitting the court clerk to perform clerical duties in connection with the case and to be in the courtroom during the trial, and sending an inappropriate letter to the County Court Judge hearing the appeal.

The Commission concluded that Judge Gumo engaged in “impermissible advocacy” by advising the County Court Judge of facts outside the record and making legal arguments when the defendant appealed. By sending a letter that was “ethically and procedurally improper,” the judge “abandoned his role as a neutral arbiter and became an advocate.” The Commission stated that the judge sent the letter “in a fit of pique” because the County Court Judge had criticized his decision not to disqualify himself and had granted the defendant’s application for a stay. Judge Gumo’s decision in the case was later upheld on appeal.

 The Commission also found that while it was not necessary for the judge to disqualify himself, Judge Gumo “should have disclosed the court clerk’s relationship to a potential witness in order to give the parties the opportunity to be heard on the issue before proceeding.” Such disclosure, the Commission stated, was necessary “in order to dispel any appearance of impropriety and reaffirm the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” The Commission also stated that the court clerk’s presence in the courtroom and the fact that she performed clerical duties in the case, “compounded the appearance of impropriety.”

 There is a partial dissent

I cannot conclude, however, that the clerk’s performance of her normal clerical duties in the case and her presence in the courtroom during part of the trial violated the ethical canons under the particular circumstances here.

Court Clerk Kristin Beers was the sole clerk of the Walton Village Court. Had she been completely insulated from the Groat case, the judge himself would have been required to handle mail, perform scheduling and tnake routine notations in the court records, such as noting dates that papers were received or sent, that would have otherwise been made by the court clerk. I cannot conclude that a reasonable application of the ethical rules requires such a result under the circumstances here or that the judge’s failure to do so compounds his misconduct.

Kristin Beers was not a court attorney or the judge’s law clerk.

The partial dissent came from member Richard Stoloff. (Mike Frisch)