Judge resigns for second time after he's accused of staging fake proceeding
A New York judge has resigned for a second time for allegedly staging a sham proceeding, but this time, he won’t be returning to the bench. (Photo illustration by Sara Wadford/ABA Journal/Shutterstock)
A New York judge has resigned for a second time for allegedly staging a sham proceeding, but this time, he won’t be returning to the bench.
Judge Louis P. Violanti of the Lackawanna City Court in Erie County, New York, resigned Jan. 23 and agreed never to return, according to a Feb. 5 press release and documents noted by the Legal Profession Blog.
Violanti first resigned in March 2013 but made no promises that he wouldn’t return, according to the press release, a Jan. 2 stipulation and an August 2024 ethics complaint. He resigned the first time after learning that he was under investigation for allegedly staging a sham proceeding in January 2013 to dismiss a traffic charge for an acquaintance.
No prosecutor was present for the proceeding, and a police officer posed as the traffic defendant, according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
“Following the sham proceeding, and on the basis of fictitious evidence,” Violanti dismissed the charge, the ethics complaint said. The acquaintance had been accused of driving with a suspended vehicle registration.
The sham-proceedings allegation led to a two-year suspension of Violanti’s law license. The suspension decision by the Appellate Division’s Fourth Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court said mitigating factors included Violanti’s “longtime and substantial community involvement,” his sincere expression of remorse, and his advice that all parties cooperate in the ethics investigation.
Violanti was reinstated to practice in March 2016. The mayor of Lackawanna, New York, appointed Violanti to a six-year term on the city court in March 2024. Five months later, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct filed a new ethics complaint based on the same 2013 proceeding.
Robert H. Tembeckjian, the commission’s administrator, said in the press release Violanti “would have been removed in 2013,” making him “constitutionally ineligible to return” to the bench if the commission had not been constrained by time limits in the law.
“A decade later, he came back” to the bench, Tembeckjian said, “only to face discipline and agree to the inevitable: permanent departure from the bench.”
Violanti commented in a statement forwarded to the ABA Journal by his lawyer, Rodney O. Personius of Personius Melber.
“While now over a dozen years old” Violanti said of the proceeding, “I once again acknowledge my poor exercise of judgment in resolving a traffic citation for a close friend that arose from a mistake made by his auto insurance carrier. The disposition of the citation was not the issue, as recognized by the district attorney at the time.
“Whether I required the defendant to come to court or not, the underlying charge was subject to dismissal due to the insurance company’s error. At the time, I took full responsibility for my improper handling of this matter, which included voluntarily resigning from my judicial post and accepting without opposition the two-year sanction imposed by the appellate division.
“I understood the matter ended at that point, and therefore accepted the reappointment to the bench that was offered to me almost 12 months ago. I have since served the Lackawanna community honorably and competently as its associate judge. When this old matter resurfaced and my timeliness objection was denied, I decided the public, particularly our community, would be best served if I simply stepped aside. I am forever grateful for having had this additional opportunity, however brief, to again contribute to the good of our city.”
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
