New York Judge Resigns amid Investigation into Alleged Jan. 6 Role
https://www.newsweek.com/new-york-judge-resigns-amid-investigation-alleged-jan-6-role-1960883
Published Sep 29, 2024 at 5:48 AM EDT
Updated Sep 29, 2024 at 10:54 AM EDT
An upstate-New York judge has resigned from his judicial positions amid an investigation into his attendance at Donald Trump's January 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C.
Judge Donald R. Spaccio, who served as a village and town court judge in Montour Falls, Schuyler County, submitted his resignation earlier in September, according to documents from the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Judge Spaccio had been notified in April that the commission was investigating complaints related to his conduct, which included attending the Jan. 6 rally, as well as shouting at law enforcement when officers asked him to remove a propane cannon from his property, and yelling profanities at a town code enforcement officer during a dispute.
Spaccio told the New York Law Journal that he went to Trump's rally because he felt there were a lot of things wrong with the country.
According to the stipulation agreed upon by Spaccio and the commission, he will vacate his judicial positions and is barred from holding any judicial office in the future.
In the Commission's statements, administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian, said attending the January 6 rally was "impermissible."
"Judges may not engage in political activity except for a limited time when running for office, and even then there are constraints on what they may do," Tembeckjian said.
"Whether or not a judge was a candidate, attending the rally in Washington on January 6, 2021, was impermissible."
Spaccio attended the "Save America" rally in Washington, D.C., where then-president Trump declared he would "never concede" the election, called on Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, and told his supporters: "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
The commission did not specify whether Spaccio participated in the violent storming of the Capitol that followed Trump's speech, which resulted in more than 1,400 people being charged.
The former president has continued to claim, without evidence, that the election was "rigged" via widespread voter fraud but has denied stoking the violence that took place.
Spaccio had served as a justice of the Montour Falls Village Court since 2001 and joined the Montour Town Court in 2005.
His current terms were set to expire in March 2026 for the village court and December 2025 for the town court. Instead of contesting the allegations, Spaccio chose to resign, telling th New York Law Journal that he did not want to bear the cost of a legal defense.
In his resignation letter, Spaccio expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve the community.
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct accepted his resignation and determined that the matter would be concluded under the terms of the stipulation, subject to revival if Spaccio violates the agreement.