MONTICELLO — A scathing report by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is recommending that County Court Judge Michael F. McGuire should be removed from the bench.

McGuire took office in January, 2011 and his 10-year term was set to expire in December.

Sullivan County Legislators voted 6-1 last month to appoint McGuire as County Attorney to replace Cheryl McCausland, who is stepping down on April 19.

Legislator Ira Steingart was the only dissenting vote, saying he'd prefer to promote from within and hire current Deputy County Attorney Tom Cawley.

Legislator Joe Perrello abstained from voting, “based on lack of information on the situation, and I was in front of Mr. McGuire two times when he was a judge for me,” he said.

Legislator Nadia Rajsz was absent for the vote due to an emergency meeting at SUNY Orange related to COVID-19.

The 66-page report from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct released last week cites a broad list of misconduct and abuse of authority they say justifies McGuire's removal.

“The breadth of Judge McGuire's misconduct is stunning,” said Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian in a statement.

At the center of the report are a half dozen instances from 2012-2014 when McGuire “improperly and without cause ordered litigants, some of whom were not represented by counsel, to be taken into custody in handcuffs.”

McGuire contends that in two cases, litigants were already in the Sullivan County Jail when they appeared before him and were headed off to state prison.

“Nothing I did kept them incarcerated for even one minute,” McGuire said in a press briefing on Thursday.

Other litigants were removed from the court for what McGuire described as insolent behavior.

Other charges of misconduct alleged that McGuire threatened to order litigants into custody on three other occasions, was discourteous to court personnel, failed to be courteous toward litigants in child custody matters and practiced private law while a full-time judge, including representing his son on a marijuana charge and his wife in a traffic ticket.

The commission also found that McGuire presided over matters in which his impartiality could reasonably be questioned, conducted gun permit interviews at inappropriate locations, required his court secretary to work on certain Saturdays without compensation and used his judicial title in personal email.

“It is most troubling that [McGuire], who lectured litigants about freedoms available in the United States, violated those very freedoms when he ordered six litigants to be detained without any basic due process, let alone strict compliance with the mandatory procedural safeguards in summary contempt matters,” the Commission report reads.

“Furthermore, although [McGuire] purported to be concerned with decorum in his courtroom and respect toward his judicial office, the record is replete with instances of [his] angry outbursts toward both litigants and court personnel.”

During a press interview at the County Government Center on Thursday alongside Legislature Chairman Rob Doherty, Vice Chair Michael Brooks and Legislator Nicholas Salomone, McGuire acknowledged that mistakes were made in certain instances.

“Mistakes were made in the transition from private practice to the bench. Mistakes were made in the manner in which I interacted with some litigants, and mistakes were made in the manner in which I interacted with some members of the staff,” McGuire said. “I take full responsibility for those things and regret that they occurred.”

Despite the Commission's findings, McGuire stressed that he was “exceedingly proud” of the work that was accomplished during his more than nine years on the bench and more than 60,000 appearances in Surrogate's Court, Family Court, Criminal Court and Supreme Court.

“I've got letters and letters from people thanking me for saving their children's lives. Those are the things that will endure. Not these six cases. These are a blip on the screen. I regret them. I take responsibility for them. I was wrong, but they don't define my time on the bench,” McGuire said.

He explained how some of the cases he adjudicated are often custody battles and are fraught with emotion. He said that nine litigants who appeared before him in 2019 have since died from heroin overdoses, leaving children behind.

“I'm not trying to justify my actions. I was wrong up to 2014. I've developed different ways of dealing with things,” McGuire said.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct, however, believed McGuire lacked candor in his testimony.

“Although [McGuire] argued that his conduct has changed since the events that are the subject of the thirteen charges against him, the record reflected that [his] behavior seems to have changed only after he became aware of an investigation into his conduct,” the Commission's report read.

McGuire said he would continue on the bench for “the foreseeable future,” but his main focus, beyond clearing up a significant backlog in court cases due to the COVID-19 outbreak, is on becoming the County Attorney.

“I am thrilled for the opportunity that this presents to work with this Legislature that's committed to making changes in this county.”

The three legislators at Thursday's press briefing seemed unswayed by the Commission's report, intending to stick by McGuire as the next County Attorney.

Chairman Rob Doherty said they were aware of the complaints against Judge McGuire while he was being considered for the County Attorney position. “We thoroughly investigated. We were supplied with a copy of the referee's report,” Doherty said.

“A majority of us were very confident that Mike was the person we wanted to be the County Attorney going forward,” said Vice Chair Michael Brooks, saying that the timeline of these six cases out of more than 60,000 is very important.

“We have all the confidence in Mike's work up to this point and his ability to work with this Legislature,” he said.

McGuire's ultimate fate, however, may rest with the New York State Court of Appeals, which will review the Commission's report and make a final determination as to whether he's removed from the bench.

“Right now we're in consultation with my attorneys,” McGuire said. “At this point, I'm not going to comment on what we're going to do going forward, other than that I'm going to prepare to become the County Attorney when this matter is resolved and put to bed.”

Others React

District 6 Legislator Luis Alvarez said he “supports McGuire as a person,” but thinks they should have waited to make a decision on the County Attorney position until the legislators could read and digest the full report from the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Alvarez voted in favor of McGuire's appointment as County Attorney last month.

“My experience with [McGuire] has always been good, but the report is very negative. As a Sheriff's Deputy, I had a lot of involvement with him in Family Court and he always did his job. How do you make sense of what you see and then read a report that says something completely different?” Alvarez said. “We should have been allowed the time to see that report and make a decision.”

When reached on Monday afternoon, District 2 Legislator Nadia Rajsz said, “I have no issues with Judge McGuire. I believe he is very talented and knowledgeable, however, I had asked that we postpone the appointment until we knew better the decision from the State [Commission].”

Rajsz said she was of the same mind as District 8 Legislator Ira Steingart to hire someone in house who already possessed institutional knowledge.

“That was my decision and still is ... setting aside the [Commission Report], I am still for appointing Tom Cawley,” Rajsz said.

As of press time yesterday, Alvarez said he was seeking to schedule a special meeting with fellow legislators to discuss McGuire.