A New York judge who was reprimanded for being seen on video shoving a police officer during a scuffle with a neighbor will be replaced, authorities said Wednesday.
Acting State Supreme Court Justice Mark Grisanti of Buffalo has been serving as a “retainer,” essentially awaiting reappointment, since his term on the Court of Claims expired last year.
His name was not on Gov. Kathy Hockle’s list of 25 judicial nominees considered Wednesday by the state Senate Judiciary Committee, and he was not reappointed, according to a spokesman for Sen. Brad Hoylman Sigal, the committee’s chairman.
Court spokesman Al Baker said Grisanti will remain in his position until the new judge begins his term.
Grisanti had not received any formal notice Wednesday that he would not be reappointed, his lawyer, Terrence Connors, said.
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct passed a resolution in April censoring Grisanti but narrowly rejected an administrator’s recommendation for his removal, finding his actions in June 2020 to be “particularly lacking in judgment.”
The committee also criticized Grisanti’s involvement in a lawsuit over an attorney who paid him money as part of a business deal.
Connors said Grisanti was an exemplary judge.
“The lawyers and judges who know his work best want him to remain on the bench,” Connors said in an email. “Even the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct, after a thorough investigation, has determined that, ultimately, two hours of misconduct is not grounds for removal from the bench.”
Grisanti’s verbal confrontation with police stemmed from a dispute with a neighbor over parking.
In the video, a shirtless judge can be heard telling officers that Mayor Byron Brown is a friend and that he has relatives of the mayor on the police force.
At one point, Grisanti shoved an officer who was trying to handcuff his wife, telling him, “You’re going to regret this,” before being handcuffed himself and put into a patrol car. He was not charged.
Grisanti was first appointed to the court in 2015.
