A judge in upstate New York who was caught on video shoving a police officer during a shirtless brawl with neighbors over a parking lot got away with just a slap on the wrist.
Mark Grisanti, 59, has been formally disciplined by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. [SCJC] About the swearing-filled melee that ended in June 2020 with him being handcuffed.
The judicial watchdog group said SCJC Administrator Robert Thembejian recommended that Grisanti be removed from the bench, with four commissioners voting for dismissal, while six other panelists opted for a milder reprimand, or public reprimand. He explained that he did.
“I hope that Judge Grisanti realizes how close he came to being removed from office and that his future actions exemplify the integrity and dignity expected of his high office,” Thembejian said in a statement Tuesday. said.
Grisanti, a Court of Claims judge and acting Erie County Supreme Court judge, was elected in 2015 and continues to serve in a “holdover” capacity, although his term expires in July 2023, the SCJC said.
— A man was formally reprimanded by police in Buffalo, New York, after getting into an abusive fight with neighbors and a police officer.
He earned $210,900 in 2023. According to SeeThroughNY.
According to an April 22 SCJC decision released Tuesday, an altercation on June 22, 2020 began when Grisanti ran into neighbors Joseph, 69, and Gina Mele, 57, in the driveway of his Buffalo home. It all started when a man (years old) believed that there was an intrusion.
According to the filing, when Grisanti returned home the night of the fight, the neighbor who allegedly caused the nuisance again parked his two cars on “opposite sides” of the driveway.
According to the paper, the judge called 911 before he and his wife, Maria Grisanti, confronted the Meles and Grisanti yelled profanities such as “Fuck you every Thursday” and “I’m going to flatten your face again.” He said he screamed.
During the scuffle, Meles yelled abuse at Grisanti, and the foursome got into a scuffle before police arrived, documents said.
Buffalo police officers tried to break up the hostile neighbors, handcuffing Maria, who was only 5 feet tall and weighing 100 pounds, and eventually pushed her to the ground as she resisted, according to the ruling. That’s what it means.
This prompted Grisanti to shove the arresting officer, and while another officer held him down, he yelled, “You better get away from your fucking wife,” and told him, “You’re going to apologize,” because his son and daughter are cops. He threatened her, the filing alleges.
Grisanti, who was also handcuffed, eventually apologized for pushing the officer before he was taken away. No charges were filed against any of the four neighbors.
The judge had lost family members before and after the incident, which contributed to the meltdown, the application alleges.
He enrolled in court-provided counseling the following month and continued receiving counseling until February 2021.
The SCJC also found that Mr. Grisanti should be reprimanded for presiding over eight cases involving lawyers whose judges sold their law firms.
The SCJC alleges that Mr. Grisanti continued to receive fees from the lawyer until June 2019 (he bought the practice for $50,000) but failed to report the relationship and fail to disclose the fees in 2015. did.
The judge has 30 days to ask the New York Court of Appeals to review the SCJC’s decision, or the charge is final.
Neighbor Gina Mele told The Post by phone Tuesday that she was “confused” that SCJC let Grisanti, who she said still lives across the street, be fired so easily. Ta.
“I’m shocked that he was just condemned,” she said. “I have completely lost faith in our justice system. Me and her husband were victims in this situation.”
Mele claimed that she and her husband did not trespass on Grisanti’s property, but simply parked on the public road in front of the judge’s house, and that she never understood why Grisanti would be so angry.
She said it was unfair that no charges were brought against the Gristanti family and felt there was a cover-up.
“He always says our rights were violated, but the point is who you are and who you know,” Mele said of her husband.
Grisanti’s lawyers, Terrence Connors and Vincent Doyle, said in a statement that the judge’s actions that day did not justify his removal from office.
“The Commission on Judicial Conduct thoroughly investigated Judge Grisanti’s background,” the statement said. “Several days of hearings featured testimony from attorneys, court staff, and other judges that Judge Grisanti is a model judge who is diligent, diligent, and courteous.”
“Today’s decision concludes that, taken as a whole, Judge Grisanti’s conduct during two hours of his day, relative to his excellent performance as a judge, does not justify his removal from the court.” the lawyers concluded.
