The New York state justice whose bench removal was recommended by a judicial conduct panel after she was caught on video threatening to shoot Black teenagers at a high school graduation party is leaving office voluntarily after a months-long effort to keep her job.
The state Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended that Oneida County State Supreme Court Justice Erin P. Gall be removed from office after determining that Gall went on a “racially offensive, profane, prolonged public diatribe” at a party at her friend’s home in the upstate New York in July 2022 that was the site of a late-night brawl.
Police bodycam video caught Gall talking about several Black teenagers who were at the party after several officers responded to end the festivities and break up the fight that involved Gall’s husband and then-18-year-old son.
When Gall confronted the cops about the teens’ presence, she reportedly told a sheriff’s deputy that her son was going to business school, and then said the Black teenagers “don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.”
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.”
The commission later investigated two complaints that were submitted about Gall’s behavior at the party. After completing a review, the panel determined that Gall “invoked her judicial office, threatened gun violence, and both criticized and pledged favored treatment for the police.”
Gall was suspended without pay in July.
The commission sent its recommendation to the state’s Court of Appeals, where arguments in the case were set to happen on Jan. 9. However, Gall abandoned her appeal for reinstatement through a motion filed through her attorney last week, the New York Law Journal reported.
She reported that she submitted her resignation on Dec. 15 and agreed never to seek judicial office again. She had a year left in her judicial term.
“It appears she has finally conceded that her reprehensible conduct would result in her formal removal from office, which under the New York constitution would bar her from ever returning to the bench,” Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said.
Gall’s motion claimed that she no longer wanted her and her family to be the center of negative media attention the case brought.
Her motion stated that her “story has [been] carried by not only local but national news and social media. The attention incited numerous physical threats upon my family, requiring 24-hour law enforcement protection. In particular, my two sons received numerous death threats. The fear has been immeasurable and terrifying. I do not believe that I can move forward with arguing this appeal for fear that my family will be put in danger once again.”
Gall requested that the court deliver “no specific findings other than removal to help lessen any potential harm to my family due to social media and national news exposure.”
Tembeckjian stated the commission has until Dec. 30 to respond to her motion.
The four Black teenagers who were verbally accosted by Gall testified that they showed up to the party along with numerous other uninvited guests after seeing a live stream of the festivities online.
As the party grew in size, a dispute started and escalated to a fight involving multiple people.
The young men testified that after police were called and people began leaving, they remained in the area to look for their lost car key.
Gall told police that if the teens returned to the property to locate the key, “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 if the teens were arrested at her urging, 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.”
Gall confessed she made ethical lapses during her outburst and largely charged her behavior to “emotional distress” connected to an assault she suffered in college in 1990.
Though she conceded that her statements about the Black teens “created at least the appearance of racial bias,” she later argued that she believes it’s unfair “to characterize my reactions as racially motivated and to stigmatize me with that finding based on the facts in the case.”
