NY Judge Resigns After 'Astounding' Jury Duty Excuse

Richard T. Snyder said he thought everyone who appeared in court was guilty
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 5, 2025 2:20 PM CST
NY Judge Resigns After 'Astounding' Jury Duty Excuse
Town Judge Richard Snyder is seen on Feb. 20, 2016, at the Petersburgh Town Hall in Petersburgh, New York.   (Cindy Schultz/The Albany Times Union via AP)

An upstate New York judge has resigned after he got out of jury duty by claiming that he couldn't be impartial—because he thought everyone brought before a court is guilty. Richard T. Snyder, who'd been a justice of the Petersburgh Town Court for about a decade, left his post after being charged with misconduct by a state judicial commission, officials said Tuesday. According to court transcripts, Snyder tried to avoid serving on a jury in 2023 by first identifying himself as a judge and then saying, "I know everybody [who comes] in front of me. I know they are guilty. They would not be in front of me."

The AP reports he was eventually dismissed from serving on the jury after he continued to argue that he couldn't be impartial, saying, "No. It would not be fair," court transcripts from a special grand-jury empanelment in Rensselaer County show. The judge who was overseeing the jury selection reported Snyder to state officials. At a judicial commission hearing the following year, Snyder said he understood that defendants are supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty, but he said he still felt that people wouldn't be in court if they didn't commit crimes.

"I meant, that they were guilty because they did something wrong. But they're not guilty [until] they come to court. They're innocent [until] proven guilty," he told the commission. "They did something wrong. That's why they got a ticket. But they're not guilty," he added. Snyder, who was elected as a justice, isn't an attorney and has agreed to never serve as a judge again.

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In a statement, Robert H. Tembeckjian, administrator of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, said "there is no place on the bench for someone who so deeply misunderstands the role of a judge and the administration of justice. 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," he said.

(More strange stuff stories.)

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