A judicial conduct panel recommended that a New York state justice be removed from office after she was caught on police body camera threatening to shoot Black teenagers she alleged were “trespassing” at a graduation party in 2022.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct ruled that State Supreme Court Justice Erin Gall should be removed from the bench due to a “racially offensive, profane, prolonged public diatribe outside a high school graduation party during which she repeatedly invoked her judicial office, threatened gun violence, and both criticized and pledged favored treatment for the police” by telling responding law enforcement, ‘[y]ou know I am on your side.'”
According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Gall and her son were at a graduation party on July 1, 2022, at a friend’s home in the upstate New York town of New Hartford that ended up being the site of a late-night brawl between some of the attendees and four Black teens. Gall’s husband and 18-year-old son were involved in the fight.
The celebration reportedly grew in size after word spread on social media about its activity. The party included a bartender and keg, a fact that Gall verified later to the commission.
Police were called to break up the melee and end the party. When Gall confronted the cops about the teens’ presence, she reportedly said, “They don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.” She also told officers that her son would be attending business school.
In parts of the 80-minute bodycam footage the judicial panel reviewed, Gall is seen loudly yelling that the teens are “trespassing” and demanding them to “get off the property” numerous times.
“You’re done. Done, done, done. Get off the property! And’s that’s from Judge Gall! I’m a f—ing judge!” Gall is heard saying in the video. “And I’m telling you! Get off the f—ing property! No, judge. It’s judge. I could give a f—. … I don’t want anyone on the property. If I have to clear it out, I will.”
When one officer told her the property wasn’t her home, she said, “It’s my jurisdiction, though.”
That same cop repeatedly told Gall that one teen was searching for his missing car keys, but Gall pushed back and suggested the teen call an Uber. She added, “When they trespass you can shoot them on the property. I’ll shoot them on the property.”
One officer challenged her statements, telling her “You can’t shoot somebody for simply going on your property. … Do you hear what you’re saying? You’re all white, privileged people with high-power jobs.”
When one cop told her that police could face civil rights lawsuits for questionable arrests, she responded, “The good part is I’m always on your side. You know I’d take anyone down for you guys. You know that.”
The commission received an anonymous complaint on Sept. 28, 2022, and a formal complaint was issued in May 2023.
In meetings with the state’s judicial watchdog about her statements, Gall confessed she made ethical lapses but charged her behavior largely to “emotional distress” connected to an assault she suffered in college 34 years ago and seeing her husband and son “attacked” by “individuals whom respondent and her family members had never seen before and whom they believed were uninvited.”
She conceded that she appeared to be seeking special treatment by invoking her office during her outburst and that her statements about the Black teens “created at least the appearance of racial bias.”
Despite those acknowledgments, the commission ultimately determined that her actions warranted her removal from the bench.
“It is utterly unacceptable for a judge to threaten gun violence, exhibit racial prejudice, promise favorable treatment for the police, or disparage a law intended to keep guns away from dangerous people,” Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said in a statement. “Any one of these things would undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.”
The commission’s recommendation will go to a state Court of Appeals, where it will be decided whether Gall can keep her judgeship.
Gall has served on the state Supreme Court for the fifth judicial circuit since 2012. Her current term ends in December 2025.
