Rensselaer County

by David Flint

Town Justices in the Eastwick area did not appear to be much impressed by a report issued last month on the Future of Town and Village Courts. 

The report was the result of a study conducted last year by the Special Commission on the Future of New York State Courts. Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of the NYS Court of Appeals established the Commission in 2006 to study and propose reforms to the State court system. This, their second report, focuses on town and village courts. 

The Commission decided to take a pragmatic and “politically realistic” approach to reforming the local courts, avoiding draconian changes that have been unsuccessfully recommended in the past that would have done away with non-attorney judges and required a complete dismantling of the local justice system and amendments to the State Constitution. They also rejected the concept of District Courts – a uniform, State funded and State-run system of non-local courts – which they noted had failed to gain any widespread community or political support over the years. 

They listed their findings and recommendations in four areas: the organization of the Justice Courts, qualifications of the Justices, facilities and resources and the role of fines and funding in the courts. 

The Commission argues that not only is the “current jumble” of over 1,250 local courts not sustainable economically, it also affects the quality of justice that is delivered. “The funds that are wasted on duplicative courts diminish the amounts available to make critical improvements to court facilities,” they said. Then, too, they pointed out, with so many courts to service, prosecutors and public defenders are often unable to be present, resulting in delays of weeks and months. Their recommendation is that a panel working under State guidelines be established in each county that would have the authority to review each court in the county and decide which courts should be combined. The panels would address only the combining of courts and would not be permitted to recommend changes to the number of judgeships.

Regarding qualifications, the Commission noted that recent newspaper articles have pointed out that hairstylists and massage therapists require more training and certification than do town or village justices. They also point to a 1976 US Supreme Court ruling to the effect that just as criminal defendants have a constitutional right to be represented by an attorney, they also have a due process right to appear before an attorney judge. They concluded, however, that it is not feasible to require that all local Justices be attorneys. Their compromise recommendation is that incoming judges be at least 25 years old and have acquired at least a two-year college degree and that defendants in misdemeanor cases be given the right to “opt out” of the local court and have their case reassigned to an attorney judge. They would also expand the pool of qualified candidates by amending residency requirements so that a local judge could reside anywhere in the county or even in a neighboring county. 

The Commission acknowledged that improvements in training and testing of judges had been made by an Action Plan instituted in 2006 by the Office of Court Administration (OCA). They recommended, however, that training and testing be further expanded and improved.

Currently local courts are funded by their town or village with some grant assistance from OCA’s Justice Court Assistance Program (JCAP). The Commission would expand and improve the JCAP and augment it with a direct State aid program earmarked for the courts to support their capital and security needs. 

Currently most of the fines for traffic violations such as speeding or DWI go to the State or county. The local jurisdiction can retain 100% of fines for parking violations, resulting in quite a bit of plea-bargained “parking on the pavement” violations. The Commission made no specific recommendations regarding reallocating fines, but they suggested that the State Legislature revise the current procedures and establish a uniform sharing ratio so that both State and localities get an equitable share of all fines.

The Town Justices in this area who were asked their opinion had not yet had time to digest all the findings and recommendations in the Commission’s almost 300 page report, so none wanted to make any definite conclusions. Each, however, had some tentative remarks to make. 

Wes Edwards, who has been Town Justice in Stephentown for 45 years, said that in his estimation he and Judge Cyril Grant and Court Clerk Debbie Coppola have been doing an adequate and professional job. Their first priority is safety, and the second is training. “We are proud of our court,” he said, “and we take it pretty darn seriously.” Edwards did not think combining local courts in this area would work well, and he thought it might just be the first step toward establishing District Courts. Who would have jurisdiction over the court, he wondered. In any case, he hopes he does not see it come to pass, and he also did not like the idea of expanding the pool for local judge candidates to anywhere in the county or beyond. He feels it is better to have a judge who knows the locality and its people. He thought the “Opt Out” provision might be ill-advised as it sounds like shopping for judges. 

Edwards thought the age and educational requirements for local judges should be left up to the voters. Regarding training, however, he applauded the additional requirements resulting from the OCA Action Plan and was very much in favor of increasing the requirements further if deemed necessary.  

Joe Rechen in Berlin sees the Commission’s recommendations as suggestions; they can’t be instituted arbitrarily and would need legislative approval. Some of the recommendations, such as the combining of courts will require a lot of planning on specifics such as sharing of revenues. He said it would be premature to comment on the substance of the recommendations at this time, but he did note that the Commission had ruled out District Courts. “Nobody is in favor of District Courts,” he said, adding that they have not had a good track record in Massachusetts, where he believes they are not smoothly run and do not provide speedy redress.

Siegfried Krahforst, who has been Town Justice in Petersburgh for 28 years, felt the Commission was placing a lot of weight on a judge having a law degree, but Krahforst said he thinks that just the opposite is often better. His experience has been that judges with law degrees often try to follow the law to the last letter and sometimes don’t use common sense. They follow the book even with small complaints, not allowing a chance to resolve the situation without it becoming a big problem. 

Regarding the “Opt-Out” recommendation, Krahforst said even now judges have a lot of leeway. All felony cases go to County court, but if charges are reduced they can come back to Town court. Some cases can be transferred to Family Court and others to drug courts or alcohol abuse courts. 

Krahforst noted that the State pays nothing now to run the town courts. He wondered if courts are combined, who would pay for it. He suspected the combined courts would need full time judges which means more money from taxpayers. 

Dennis McGurn, for 15 years Town Justice in Grafton and a Director on the Board of the NYS Magistrates Association, said the Magistrates have a committee working on consolidation of some courts. The Rensselaer County Magistrates, however, are opposed to combining courts because all the courts in this county are very busy now. McGurn noted, too, that the Village Board of Hoosick Falls had recently considered eliminating the Village Court and using the services of the Town Court, but the people of Hoosick Falls had voted against it. 

He tentatively disagrees with the “Opt-Out” proposal because he believes the current system is working adequately. He said the New York City Bar Association was pushing for all judges to have a law degree, but the NYS Magistrates Association was opposed to any such requirement, even though 25% of the members have law degrees. McGurn feels that under the OCA Action Plan the local judges are required to get plenty of training. “The local judges are doing a very good job, even the non-attorneys,” he said, “and the small courts are being run correctly. These judges have been around for years, and they know what to do.” He added that justices are constantly attending training sessions and noted that he had a hand in setting up some of that training when he was President of the Rensselaer County Magistrates Association.

Thomas Restino, Jr. has been a judge for 13 years and now serves as Justice in both the Town of Hoosick and the Village of Hoosick Falls. He would agree with the Commission that the local courts can use some streamlining and more efficiency but is not so sure about consolidation and “opting out.” He noted that the courts in Hoosick and Hoosick Falls are already very busy and pointed out that, “These courts were set up to be the closest courts to the people.” As for opting out, he argued that not being a lawyer does not mean a justice cannot properly handle a case. The local judges, he said, now get a lot of training. 

Restino thought it was probably a good idea to require incoming judges to be at least 25 years old and have a two-year degree, though he did point out that there are currently a lot of people with only a high school education who have been very successful as judges.