October 20th 2023.
Judge Robert J. Putorti was removed from office after making a highly inappropriate and concerning decision during a court hearing in 2015. On October 19th, the New York State Court of Appeals made the decision to remove him from office.
At the time, Putorti was a judge for Village Court and Whitehall Town in New York. During the court hearing, Putorti pointed a loaded handgun at a Black defendant after the man allegedly approached the stand too quickly, crossing a designated stop line inside the courtroom.
Putorti seemed to emphasize the race and stature of the litigant, even going so far as to exaggerate the man's size. He described the defendant as 6 feet 9 inches tall and built like a football player when he was actually 6 feet tall and 165 pounds.
The New York State Court of Appeals ruled that Putorti exhibited bias or implicit bias by exploiting a classic and common racist trope that Black men are inherently threatening or dangerous. Robert H. Tembeckjian, administrator for the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct, said in a statement that this type of behavior is "indefensible and inimical to the role of a judge."
The court also ruled that Putorti had repeatedly shown an unwillingness or inability to abide by the Rules of Judicial Conduct — a further factor in his removal from office. To make matters worse, Putorti had also been participating in prohibited fundraising events while he was under investigation for the gun-wielding incident.
In the end, the New York State Court of Appeals decided to remove Putorti from the bench for his inappropriate and racist behavior. It is clear that this type of behavior has no place in the courtroom.
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