/PG/ Albany, New York (Signal High) —– A judge who pointed a loaded handgun at a black man during a 2015 court hearing was formally removed from the bench.
Justice Robert J. Putorti was a judge in Whitehall Town and Village Court. He claimed he aimed the gun at the man because he approached the stand too quickly and crossed a stop line for litigants. Putorti described the man as being 6’9 and “built like a football player,” but in reality, the man was 6′ and 165 pounds. The high court affirmed noted Putorti “exploited a classic and common racist trope that black men are inherently threatening or dangerous, exhibiting bias or, at least, implicit bias.”
Putorti’s lack of remorse after the gun episode contributed to his removal, according to the decision. It was also found that Putorti participated in prohibited fundraising events of benefit the Elks Lodge, where he also held office. For this, Putorti was found to have an “an unwillingness or inability to abide by the Rules of Judicial Conduct,” the decision noted.
“It is indefensible and inimical to the role of a judge to brandish a loaded weapon in court, without provocation or justification, then brag about it repeatedly with irrelevant racial remarks,” said Robert H. Tembeckjian, administrator for the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct, in a statement. “The Court’s ruling today makes clear that there is no place on the bench for one who behaves this way.”
The only question that remains in the mind of this writer is: why did it take so long to get rid of him?
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