There goes the judge

Up in rural Petersburgh, New York, they need a new town justice.

Former Town Justice Richard T. Snyder was ridden off on a rail because he said something out loud that he really should have not said (let alone thought): in an effort to get himself excused from jury duty, he actually said, "all defendants are guilty."

He said this to another judge, who adjudged Snyder egregiously wrong, and quickly reported him to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which august body conducted a lengthy investigation.

Summonsed for grand jury duty, Snyder introduced himself as a judge, and said he couldn't do the job of a juror because he figures all the defendants brought before him are guilty.

So, he couldn’t be impartial. 

“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.”

That was enough to get him off the jury. But then he explained himself to the Commission: 

“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.”

 “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.”

His Honor is seen here either hauling off a box of extra robes and gavels, or working a new delivery job. I can't say.

The Commission sent him packing with a promise that he go far, far away, and never seek a judgeship again.

in the words of Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian, “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.” 

You think you've heard it all; now here's a judge who hadn't heard a word in freshman Civics.