Judge Mark Grisanti, who was censured after a video showed him shoving a police officer during a brawl with neighbors, will be replaced on the bench in New York. Grisanti had been serving as an acting State Supreme Court justice in Buffalo and was essentially waiting to be reappointed after his term on the Court of Claims expired the previous year. However, his name did not appear on the list of 25 judicial nominees considered by the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee, indicating he was not reappointed. Grisanti will remain in his position until a new judge starts their term.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct in New York decided in April to censure Grisanti but narrowly voted against the administrator’s recommendation to remove him from office. They found that he displayed “especially poor judgment” for his actions during a dispute with neighbors in June 2020. The commission also faulted Grisanti for participating in legal cases involving an attorney who made payments to him as part of a business deal. Despite the commission’s decision, Grisanti’s attorney, Terrence Connors, argued that he had been an exemplary judge and that his colleagues and legal peers supported him staying on the bench.
Grisanti’s exchange with police officers occurred during a dispute with neighbors over parking. In a video of the incident, the shirtless judge is seen telling officers that the Mayor is a friend and that he has relatives on the police force. He proceeds to shove a police officer who is attempting to handcuff his wife, warning the officer that he will regret it. Grisanti himself is then handcuffed and put into a police car, although he was not charged in relation to the incident. Despite the video evidence of his behavior, Grisanti was adamant about continuing in his position as a judge.
Connors maintained that Grisanti’s conduct in that incident did not reflect his overall work as a judge and that even after a thorough investigation by the Commission on Judicial Conduct, it was concluded that two hours of misconduct did not warrant his removal from the court. Grisanti’s reputation among lawyers and judges who knew his work remained strong, with many supporting his continuation on the bench. The decision not to reappoint Grisanti and replace him on the bench came amid the controversy surrounding his behavior in the video and his interactions with law enforcement officers.
Grisanti had initially been appointed to the court in 2015, but his tenure was marred by the incident in which he was seen shoving a police officer during a confrontation with neighbors. Despite his attorney’s defense of his overall conduct as a judge, the decision not to reappoint Grisanti indicated that the authorities considered his actions during the brawl significant enough to warrant his replacement on the bench. The controversy surrounding Grisanti’s behavior and the subsequent fallout from the incident with law enforcement officers led to his censure and ultimately, to the decision to replace him as a judge in New York.
