Oswego County, NY -- Selecting an Oswego County Court judge in this year’s election may come down to experience and a legal issue. The choices are a candidate with 20 years experience as a judge, though mostly not in County Court or one with more than 25 years as a prosecutor in County Court, but no experience as a...
Todd
RomanOswego County, NY -- Selecting an Oswego County Court judge in this year’s election may come down to experience and a legal issue.
The choices are a candidate with 20 years experience as a judge, though mostly not in County Court or one with more than 25 years as a prosecutor in County Court, but no experience as a judge?
Then there is the legal issue: Can a candidate serve as County Court judge if his brother is the county sheriff?
County court judges serve a 10-year term and are paid $119,800 a year.
Donald Todd, running on the Republican, Independence and Conservative lines is the brother of Reuel Todd, Oswego County sheriff. Democrat and Independent Justice for All candidate David J. Roman calls this a conflict of interest.
Roman points to a 2010 opinion by the New York state Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which advises judges on ethical issues.
The opinion suggested a town justice closely related to the head of a county road patrol, should not handle cases investigated by the road patrol. Roman said the committee’s opinion would apply to Donald Todd, who wouldn’t be able to consider cases investigated by Reuel Todd’s department.
Todd disagrees. The opinion leaves room for a judge to handle such a case as long as the prosecutor and defense lawyer agree.
In the case in question, nearly 99 percent of the cases came to the town justice through the sheriff’s department, Todd said. In Oswego County, “roughly 20 percent of the cases in County Court are from the sheriff’s department,” he said.
The state Department of Criminal Justice Services, which tracks felony arrests by police agency, repported the Oswego County Sheriff’s department last year handled about 19 percent of felony cases. They included murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.
But the statistics are misleading, Roman said, because they don’t include felony drug or drunk driving arrests — the bulk of felonies cases in the county. Roman said he is most qualified for the job, because he is the only candidate to work as a judge.
“I have 21 years of judicial experience, with 20 years in Family Court and one year in County Court,” he said. “The second County Court position also covers Family Court on a part-time basis, and I have more experience there than most anymore.”
Todd “has not practiced in Family Court in 25 years,” Roman said.
Roman was appointed County Court judge by Gov. David Paterson in May after former Judge James McCarthy was elected to the state Supreme Court.
Todd said he is most qualified because he has more experience working in County Court. He said he’s prosecuted hundreds of cases and taken more than 25 to trial.
“There is a big difference between County Court and Family Court,” Todd said. “County Court deals with the most serious crimes — murder, assault, rape burglary and robbery — and I’ve prosecuted those types of cases for the last 19 years of my life.”
Todd said if this election was for Family Court, he wouldn’t run because Roman is more qualified. But he said he knows how to present cases to a grand jury and about criminal case evidence and search warrant applications, important parts of business in County Court.
Roman disagrees. He said he knows how to make decisions as a judge and has worked in the Sex Offenders Treatment Court Program as a judge.
David J. Roman
Election lines: Democrat and Independent Justice for All Party
Age: 59
Residence: Burden Drive, Oswego
Occupation: Oswego County Court judge
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1973; law degree from Albany Law School in 1976.
Experience: Oswego County Family Court Judge for 20 years; during that time, acting justice of the State Supreme Court, presiding over the Integrated Domestic Violence Court in Oswego County.
Family: Wife, Mary; daughter, Elizabeth
Donald E. Todd
Election lines: Republican, Conservative and Independence
Age: 54
Residence: East Utica Street, Oswego
Occupation: Oswego County first assistant district attorney
Education: Undergraduate degree from State University College at Oswego; law degree from the National Law Center, George Washington University
Experience: Council to the New York State Association of County Coroners and Medical Examiners; prosecuted homicide and vehicular homicide cases in Oswego County Court; confidential law secretary for a County Court judge from June 1982 to December 1984; private legal practice from 1983 through 1996; part-time assistant district attorney from June 1991 to January 1996; full-time assistant district attorney until January 2004, when he became first assistant district attorney.
Family: Wife, Patricia “Terry” Todd; stepchildren, Jill and Molly; two grandchildren
Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com, 470-3254 or 251-5586.