'They did something wrong': Disgraced judge resigns after saying all defendants are guilty

05 February

a judge's gavel on top of a flag

When Judge Richard T. Snyder was called for jury duty in Upstate New York in 2023, he reportedly avoided serving on a case by saying he thought that all defendants in his courtroom were guilty.

Snyder was dismissed. But that comment, according to the Associated Press (AP), came back to haunt him. And Snyder has resigned because of the controversy.

"The judge who was overseeing the jury selection reported Snyder to state officials," AP reports. "At a judicial commission hearing the following year, Snyder said he understood that defendants are supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty but that he still felt that people wouldn't be in court if they didn't commit crimes."

In 2024, according to AP, Snyder appeared before a judicial commission in Upstate New York. The judge told the commission he understood that under U.S. law, defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty. And he tried to explain the comment he had made in 2023.

Snyder told the commission, "I meant that they were guilty because they did something wrong. But they're not guilty 'til they come to court. They're innocent 'til proven guilty. They did something wrong. That's why they got a ticket. But they're not guilty."

Snyder formerly served in Petersburgh, New York, a small town near Albany.

AP reports, "Snyder, who was elected as a justice, is not an attorney and has agreed to never serve as a judge again….. 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.'"

Read the full Associated Press article at this link.

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