Judge Who Threatened To Shoot Black Teens Should Be Removed, Watchdog Rules

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York state judge who engaged in a prolonged, 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.

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