Now-former Oneida County Justice Erin P. Gall. | Source: YouTube screenshot
A white Republi-Karen state Supreme Court justice in New York has given up her fight to remain in her position after a judicial watchdog panel determined earlier this year that she should step down over an incident in which she was caught on camera threatening to shoot Black teens on her friend’s property as they were attempting to leave a party they apparently weren’t invited to.
Now-former Oneida County Justice Erin P. Gall has “resigned and dropped her monthslong fight to remain on the bench after a state commission recommended that she be forced to leave office,” the New York Times reported. Gall, who said in July that she planned to appeal the panel’s decision, said in a written motion that the “decision to no longer pursue review and abandon hope of remaining on the bench has been extremely difficult.”
But it didn’t appear to be “extremely difficult” for her to threaten the lives of Black teenagers right in front of the police officers she was basically begging to arrest the teens, who had apparently not committed any arrestable offenses.
As we previously reported, the judicial panel found that, during a July 2022 graduation party — that appeared online to be an open-invite party but was not — Gall “created at least the appearance that she harbored racial bias” when she threatened the teens as they were searching for their car keys so they could leave the party, and she did so while appearing to mock African American Vernacular English (AAVE). And while Gall was attempting to throw her weight around as a state supreme court justice and officer of the court, none of her legal experience seemed to inform her that it wasn’t a good idea to state her lethal intent against Black teens who were not threatening her right in front of police officers who are wearing body cameras.
From CBS News:
A large number of apparent party crashers showed up after 11:30 p.m., the panel said. Four Black teenagers arrived after learning of the party from a live video feed, and the driver then lost his car keys, the report said.
Arguments and fights broke out between invited and uninvited guests, and officers from several law enforcement agencies responded.
Police body camera footage showed Gall telling the Black teenagers, “You got to leave! You’re not going to find your keys. You got to call an Uber and get off the property.”
She then said, “Well, you’re going to get in an Uber, buddy, or you’re going to get a cop escort home. That’s how it’s happening. That’s what I’m telling you right now. That’s how I roll. That’s how I roll. That’s how Mrs. G rolls. That’s how Judge Gall rolls. We’re clearing this place out.”
Gall tried to get the police to arrest the Black teenagers for trespassing, saying, “I’ve done this for a million years. I’m a lawyer. I’m a judge. I know this.”
She also yelled at the teenagers to “Get off the property! And’s that’s from Judge Gall! I’m a judge!,” using a profanity.
The body camera footage shows that Gall alternated between complaining that the officers weren’t arresting anyone and assuring officers that she was on their side.
“Listen, but guess what, the good part is – the good part is I’m always on your side,” she said. “You know I’d take anyone down for you guys. You know that.”
Gall told police that the Black teenagers “don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.”
She also said that if the teenagers were to come back looking for their keys, “you can shoot them on the property. I’ll shoot them on the property.”
“They don’t look like they’re smart,” says the judge who just lost her job because she allowed herself to be caught on police bodycam threatening to commit murder.
Good riddance.
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