An upstate New York judge who went on a “racially offensive, profane, prolonged public diatribe” against four Black teenagers whom she threatened to shoot should be removed from her position, according to a state judicial watchdog group.
Erin Gall is unfit to continue serving as an Oneida County Supreme Court judge, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct said Monday in a report.
“It is utterly unacceptable for a judge to threaten gun violence, exhibit racial prejudice, promise favorable treatment for the police, or disparage a law intended to keep guns away from dangerous people,” Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said in a statement.
Gall was attending a graduation party in New Hartford on July 2, 2022, when several uninvited guests showed up late at night, according to investigators. Four of the uninvited guests were Black teenagers who became involved in a scuffle and lost their car keys.
Cops responded to the scene, and bodycam video showed Gall attempting to kick the teens off the property and threatening to shoot them if they returned.
“When they trespass, you can shoot them on the property,” she told an officer, even though it wasn’t her home. “I’ll shoot them on the property.”
“You can’t shoot somebody for simply going on your property,” the officer responded. “Do you hear what you’re saying?”
At another point in the hour-long hullabaloo, Gall told a cop her son was going to business school and said of the Black teenagers, “They don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.”
Throughout her interaction with police and other partygoers, Gall attempted to assert her authority as a judge, even telling officers at one point: “I’m always on your side. You know I’d take anyone down for you guys.”
Gall was serving on the bench during the investigation but was suspended without pay upon the report’s release Monday. The New York Court of Appeals will decide her case.
