Peekskill City Court Judge Resigns Over Misconduct Charges
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Peekskill City Court Judge Reginald Johnson has turned in his gavel after being formally charged with acts of misconduct.
According to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Johnson, the first African American judge in Peekskill’s history, who has served on the city’s bench since 2014, will resign effective Sept. 30 and “agreed never to return.”
Johnson was reappointed last year by the Peekskill Common Council to a 10-year term. His current term would have expired on Dec. 31, 2033.
In Aug. 2024, Johnson was served with a Formal Written Complaint alleging that he dismissed 11 traffic tickets based on personal relationships with the defendants or persons close to the defendants, not on the merits.
In addition, according to the Commission, Johnson addressed sexual innuendos and other inappropriate remarks to court staff and attorneys on at least two occasions, and, on at least one occasion, “touched or caressed his co-judge’s arm without invitation or permission, and otherwise said offensive things to her.”
He also allegedly berated, screamed and treated court staff discourteously, and engaged in an “unauthorized ex parte communication with a government official regarding a pending criminal matter.”
“The responsibility to decide cases impartially and on the merits is corrupted whenever a judge fixes traffic cases on behalf of friends or family,” Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian stated in a Sept. 20 release. “The harmony and decorum of the courthouse is undermined whenever a judge mistreats colleagues, attorneys, and court staff. One who repeatedly does all this and more does not belong on the bench.”
The Commission stated Johnson waived the statutory provision of confidentiality applicable to the proceedings and that the stipulation and order would be made public.
Johnson grew up in Mt. Vernon. He graduated from Hofstra University with a degree in political science and went to Pace Law School. He worked as an assistant corporation counsel in Mt. Vernon before moving on to Westchester County, where he worked in the Attorney’s Office until 2014.
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