Franklin Town Court Justice Gary P. Arnd censured for saying case went ‘way over my head’

Dazed and confused doesn’t lower it on the bench.

An upstate city justice who as soon as groused a case was “method over my head” has been censured for violating basic guidelines for jurists — together with offering authorized recommendation to 1 aspect of a case and calling a civil defendant “an actual dirtbag.” 

Retired NYPD cop Gary P. Arndt, who presided over Franklin City Court docket since Jan. 1, 2010, was disciplined Wednesday by the state’s watchdog Fee on Judicial Conduct.

In response to the Occasions Union, Arndt in 2018 blurted out his determination in a case was swayed by a defendant who’d been “getting actual snotty.”

The 77-year-old ex-cop — who was by no means an legal professional — additionally needed to be advised by an actual lawyer that judges aren’t allowed to offer authorized recommendation to 1 occasion in a case, the fee discovered.

Arndt had as soon as tried to manage an oath to “everyone” without delay.

Google Maps

The fee famous throughout a small claims case in 2019, Arndt declared: “You’re actually asking the courtroom an terrible lot to attempt to determine on this, okay? It’s extraordinarily complicated and there’s two phrases towards — the 2 of you towards one another.” 

He then suggested the plaintiff to get a lawyer who may “clarify it to me.” 

“This isn't one thing I can do pretty and perceive … I’m not that certified to care for it, to be trustworthy with you,” he confessed, in accordance with the fee.

And he as soon as tried to manage an oath to “everyone” on the similar time, whereas admitting in the identical case, “Oh, I hate these civil circumstances.” 

Arndt has since been ordered to obtain additional judicial coaching and training.

Getty Photos

Arndt additionally advised the plaintiff they need to begin one other continuing after talking with an legal professional “as a result of actually, it’s method over my head,” the fee acknowledged. 

Robert Tembeckjian, the fee’s administrator, mentioned the “quite a few and basic” violations justified the censure — the second-most extreme punishment after outright elimination from the bench. 

Following the fee’s findings, Arndt agreed to get additional judicial coaching and training. 

“Choose Arndt respectfully states that his errors had been harmless of any wrongful intent; that he didn't knowingly, willfully, or deliberately act, at any time, in a fashion that he believed could be unethical, or end in an unfair or unjust end result to any civil litigant or felony defendant showing earlier than him,” he responded to the fee earlier this yr.