This New York judge had no defense.
Petersburgh Town Justice Richard T. Snyder stepped down after he said all defendants are guilty in an effort to skirt jury duty – and then struggled to defend his ill-advised declaration in front of a state commission.
Snyder’s decade-long reign on the bench in Rensselaer County was slammed shut at the end of last year after he made the haphazard comments in front of another judge, who then reported him to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct — spurring a months-long investigation.
When he arrived for jury duty in October 2023, he introduced himself as a town judge and then claimed he couldn’t be a grand juror because he thinks everyone who appears in his court is guilty and he couldn’t be impartial, the commission said Tuesday.
“I know everybody come in front of me, I know they are guilty,” he told the presiding judge, according to the court transcript. “They would not be in front of me.”
He was eventually released from being a juror.
Snyder appeared to stand by his remarks in a jumbled explanation to the commission while providing testimony during its probe.
“I meant that, reason why people got tickets is because they did something wrong, but I know people’s [sic] not guilty. They’re innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “I know they’re guilty because they did something wrong. That’s how they got a ticket.”
He additionally told the commission, “I mean, that they were guilty because they did something wrong. But they’re not guilty till they come to court. They’re innocent till proven guilty.”
Snyder has held a gavel since 2014 and his current judicial term would have been up at the end of this year if he didn’t resign on Dec. 31. As part of the deal he struck with the commission, he agreed not to run again for the post in the town of less than 2,000 people east of Albany.
Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian slammed Snyder for his ill-advised actions.
“It is bad enough that a judge would seek to avoid such a fundamental civic responsibility as jury service. It is astounding that the judge would claim an inability to be impartial, and to declare under oath that the accused must be guilty or they would not be in court,” Tembeckjian said in a statement.
“There is no place on the bench for someone who so deeply misunderstands the role of a judge and the administration of justice.”
A message to the general town justice email address seeking Snyder was not returned Tuesday.
