Garson Is Granted Early Parole
The New York Law Journal by Daniel Wise - August 20, 2009
Ex-Justice Gerald P. Garson of Brooklyn was granted parole on Tuesday, 25 months after he began serving a three-to-10 year term for bribery and two related counts. The state Parole Board set Dec. 23, 2009, as Mr. Garson's release date and stipulated that after his release he is barred from being affiliated with a law firm. He is also required as a condition of parole to participate in an alcohol abuse treatment program and to submit to substance-abuse testing. Mr. Garson's attorney, Jeremy Gutman, said in an interview that Mr. Garson's family and friends are "thrilled that he will be home with them next winter." Mr. Gutman added that Mr. Garson would like to work after his release and has received several offers of employment in "various fields." Mr. Gutman declined to elaborate. Mr. Garson, 77, has been disbarred.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office in a letter to the Parole Board had "strongly opposed" granting Mr. Garson parole. "This was an overwhelming case of greed, of [Mr. Garson's] selling his office for drinks, lunches, dinners and gifts and a violation of the trust voters and citizens of Brooklyn placed in him," wrote Michael F. Vecchione, the chief of the Rackets Division who was the lead prosecutor in Mr. Garson's trial. Mr. Gutman said Mr. Garson had "widespread support" for his release in letters submitted to the Parole Board from "neighbors, former colleagues, including retired judges, friends and family." Mr. Garson is married, has four children and a number of grandchildren. According to statistics provided by the New York State Division of Parole, it is unusual for inmates to be released after their first appearance before the Parole Board. In 2008, only 22 percent of inmates in the category of felonies, which includes bribery, were released after their first appearance.
Another former Brooklyn justice, Victor I. Barron, who was sentenced to a minimum term of three years for bribery in 2002, was also released after his first appearance before the board. Mr. Barron pleaded guilty to a charge of soliciting a $115,000 bribe before signing off on a $4.9 million settlement for a girl who had suffered brain injuries in a car accident (NYLJ, Oct. 29, 2002). After a month-long trial in 2007, Mr. Garson, was convicted of bribery for accepting free meals and drinks from lawyer Paul Siminovsky, who testified as a prosecution witness. In exchange, the jury found Mr. Garson had provided Mr. Siminovsky with court appointments, ex parte advice on a matter before the judge and unfettered access to his courtroom (NYLJ, April 20, 2007). Mr. Garson also was convicted on two counts of receiving rewards for official misconduct: a box of cigars for providing ex parte advice and $1,000 for referring a client to Mr. Siminovsky. Orange County Justice Jeffrey G. Berry, who presided over the trial, stacked his sentences for each of those counts to create a term of three to 10 years: one to four years for bribery and one to three years on each of the official misconduct counts (NYLJ, June 6, 2007). Mr. Garson entered prison on July 7, 2007. Until May 2009, he was isolated in protective custody at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy. Since May 12, he has been in the general population at the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility in Warwick, about 60 miles north of New York City.
Appeal Pending
Briefing of Mr. Garson's appeal to the Appellate Division, Second Department, has yet to be completed. Last week, the prosecution filed its response to his appeal, and Mr. Garson's reply papers are due Sept. 30 (NYLJ, Aug. 19). With that briefing schedule, experts said, the earliest the appeal would be argued would be at the end of November. Mr. Garson's parole date was advanced slightly more than six months—to Dec. 23 from June 26, 2010—upon the recommendation of the Department of Correctional Services, which found that he had successfully completed a substance and alcohol abuse program and behaved satisfactorily while in prison. Mr. Barron likewise had his release date advanced six months.
Mr. Garson is required to comply with the condition of his parole until June 2017. Should the Second Department reverse his conviction, he would be released from further parole supervision. Additional conditions of his parole are that he must refrain from drinking alcoholic beverage and comply with curfews set by his parole officer. The requirements that he submit to drug testing and participate in alcohol treatment programs are also at the discretion of his parole officer. The three board members who granted Mr. Garson parole are Joseph P. Crangle, a former probation officer and court analyst in domestic violence cases in Buffalo City Court; James B. Ferguson Jr., an former administrative law judge with the Division of Parole; and Debra Loomis, a former supervisor in the child protective division of the Washington County Division of Social Services. There are 19 members of the Parole Board. They are appointed by the governor to six-year terms and earn an annual salary of $101,600. Daniel.Wise@incisivemedia.com
There's more beds in the federal system.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it won't be long before Garson is back on the bench.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the way it works in NY?
Don't talk to me about the Parole Board, I remember the Feds rolled up several Parole Commissioners (Eastern District) and they went away. They were selling paroles. Everyone made money including big George P who was able to stop the Feds before they got to him. This Garson parole stinks to high heaven.
ReplyDeleteRoom has opened up for another judge to go to jail.
ReplyDeletethat is funny!
ReplyDeleteAs Gomer Pyle used to say: surprise, Surprise, SURPRISE!!!
ReplyDeleteThe early release of Garson and Barron only illustrate the corruption in the system.
Gerald Garson was placed in protective custody until May of 2009, according to the above report. It is my understanding that an inmate cannot earn eligibilty credits when they are in protective custody. In a few short months after joining the general population, Gerald Garson accumulates the necessary credits to set him free.
His place of incarceration is a mere 60 miles from NYC. Not a big deal for his relatives to visit him on a weekly basis. He should have considered his incarceration more of a religious retreat than a prison sentence.
Victor Barron, another lotto winner in the parole board. He is released from Edgecombe, a NYC prison. A minimum security prison at that. One that chooses to visit him doesn't even need an EZ Pass to go over bridges and the NY Thruway.
I hope my fellow Corrupt Court members keep a close eye on Garson's appeal. Those fellows do have a way of finding ways to help their friends once all the smoke and fire disappear.
Now take the case of my son in law to compare to the above two cases.
He is an ex cop that had originally been convicted of three burglaries he allegedly committed in 1999 and 2000, while acting as a look out for a burglary team. Two of those charges were vacated by the appellate court. Most likely the third charge was affirmed so as not to embarrass the trial judge that tried the case.
The truth is, for whatever it is worth is that he is totally innocent of all the charges as he was framed by the Suffolk DA.
He first goes to Downstate Correctional for evaluation and is shipped off to a prison near Buffalo. He is now a couple of hundred miles closer to home in a fairly decent prison.
His sentence, after the other charges were vacated stand at 1 2/3 to 5 years. From the jump start he requested to go into general population so he could earn his credits. He comes up for parole with his credits intact and is denied early release from his minimum sentence that is up in September of 2009.
What reason does the parole board give: They rule that in all probability he couldn't return to society without violating the law. The crime he was wrongfully convicted of was 10 years ago? He has no arrest record since that time. And, yet, the parole board sees fit to disregard the intent of the governor's office and the legislature when they had the Earned Eligibilty laws enacted.
One should read the works of former NYS Parole commissioners Edward Hammock and a Mr.Manley to get their views on this abomination of jackasses that get paid more than 100K per year, and I am sure there are generous stipends for their 'good work'.
25 months is a joke.
ReplyDeleteBefore the holidays he will get his Lic. back
He probably has another job lined up
Maybe a clerk job for a judge.
Have to keep the free drinks and lunches comming
I don't have a problem with the 25 months. The message was sent and the punishment was exacted. Is there any further need to keep a 77 year old man in prison any longer?
ReplyDeleteWhat does trouble me is that when such people enter this zone they do so knowing there is a light at the end of the tunnel. They know that the cell door is going to be unlocked as fast as humanly possible.
Hope is what keeps a lot of these folks going while in prison. The thinking is that they had to go in but they will be taken out as soon as possible.
Get a prison close to home for the loved ones to visit.
You can get protective custody and still 'earn' your Eligibilty Credits - without 'earning' them.
No need to have your stomach in knots with the anxiety of not knowing if you will be approved - after all, you are one of the chosen few and are entitled to special treatment.
I have no problem with Garson only doing 25 months. The rest of it stinks.
More on free drinks and fun in a couple of weeks.
How about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah in The Tombs/Bernie Kerik Correctional in lower Manhattan?
ReplyDelete60 invited guests to a gala party. Food trucked in from the finest kosher restaurants.
Prisoners enlisted as waiters to serve the food?
A DJ for entertainment?
This is all going on in the legendary TOMBS.
If you ever had the misfortune of visiting someone in a prison you will know that every piece of food you bring in is carefully checked. You can bring food in that you had every reason to believe would pass muster and have it returned to you. I think in a NYS prison the limit is 30 lbs a month. If you are in the Tombs, and you are well connected, you can have a caterer truck in enough food to feed a 100 people.
I hope the loud music at the party didn't keep the inmates up.
Did you ever investigate the Parole Board members?
ReplyDeleteThey are the cream of the politically connected and a mix of the American politically correct, winding their way through all state, county and city government jobs for years..before they are hatched to decide who society should or should not tolerate, as they are released per the corrupton of our state and the unaccountability of our political standards.
If anyone is shocked by this report...then they have not been paying attention to this blog and the accounts given over the past 3 yrs...because there has been so much told about this state and all of it's employees...that the legal and judicial fields....leave few bolders unturned!
One bolder that has been resting quietly.... comes from The State Dept of Criminal Justice Services.
There is evidence which I have seen and examined...in the form of an altered criminal history report ( or the sheet that states the charges in a person's entire history of arrests) of a person who is a witness in a case against OCA.
The criminal history report is a private document that is maintained in a public arrest file and must be removed when viewed by anyone other than the court or the sentencing agencies.... and the one I refer to contains this material.
The report was altered to make this person a totally different ethnicity, the state changed an ethnic name to a common American name...used often in arrests and was being used by a deft incarcerated for a serious felony at the holding facility, and then the state or courts proceeded to add false felony charges and convictions belonging to the deft whose name they changed his to and was a serious felon, as OCA KNEW THAT this witness person's report only included misdemeanors.
The purpose of this crime committed by OCA was to hopefully incarcerate this person for non-crimes and leave him to languish in custody and also in the future through OCA'S Command to arrest this person, as OCA secretly participates in.....he could not be released on bail for several days..until Supreme court verified felony convictions.
The reason I am so well informed about this report and OCA'S arrest commands is because I myself am an expert in dealing with such reports and obtained information about the arrest commands from the police...as I have taught judges how to read and interpret these arrest reports for many years, as well as district attys and new court employees ...with numbers well over 500,000! Coppers are not all that thrilled with the courts and will relay unethical commands OCA uses to intimidate those who may release incriminating information to the public! Correction's officers always seem to leave evidence of their appearance at the scene!
So if the NY state courts and their brother agencies alter criminal history reports to illegally incarcerate...and the FBI has determined that court corruprion is an acceptable American evil...then Good luck with the parole issues that plague this state...because no one cares that these crimes by the legal community... have violently invaded our democracy.
Anyone in this state can charge and get a conviction on false charges....as any state court employee can verify.
Anyone in this state can charge and get a conviction on false charges....as any state court employee can verify.
ReplyDeleteAugust 21, 2009 11:16 AM
It is as easy as ordering a 'ham sandwich'
What happens with the Garsons and the Barrons is not so much a matter of traditional corruption, it is a matter of the system protecting itself.
One judge, one prosecutor, one parole officer, and one cop will scratch one's back without so much as an introduction. They will do this because they know that one day it could be them that needs the favors.
It is more a matter of being morally corrupt and incompetent than anything else.
to: 12:18
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct when you say that they protect each other just because they are on the inside. I have head this repeatedly from the inside.
They know it could be anyone of them and they want to be sure they are protected when their time comes.
They know that the system is fixed and they don't want any part of it either.
If I recollect right, didn't Special Prosecutor Maurice Nadjari prosecute, or tried to prosecute something like 13 judges. It was a bit of time ago. I recall he gets convictions on most of them, if not all of them, and they were all reversed by the appellate courts, with the exception of a Judge Groh.
ReplyDeleteThere was a well known case in Suffolk many years ago where a woman and her brother kill her abusive husband. A real tragedy. A fight turned into a death.
They both get convicted and receive 25 to Life.
The woman's son goes on to be one of Suffolk's finest lawyers. He, and his brother petition the governor for clemency. DA Spota will write letters in opposition.
Now the Tankleff Investigation is ongoing and that very controversial 440 motion.
A witness, Joseph Creedon that some believe is the real killer in that case is brought in to testify as a witness for the prosecution. His attorney is the son of the woman that went to jail.
That woman is soon released with a statement by DA Spota that justice has been served.
But that still leaves her brother in jail. Several months later a motion is made before a Judge Robert Doyle, A suffolk county Supreme Court Judge that neither the sister or brother received a fair trial as they were represented by different lawyers of the same firm.
No appeal to a higher court. No new evidence that has been uncovered - just an application made to a local judge who just happens to carry the water for his boss Tom Spota.
Judge agrees that it appears to have been a miscarriage of justice and vacates the conviction to be replaced with Manslaughter . Time served and don't let the door hit you in the ass.
The brother and sister should have never been put in jail to the extent they have been - both served more than 22 years. Now they were free.
You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It is as obvious as the nose on your face.
The damage that Garson and his corrupt, evil cohorts, lasts for generations, and he doesn't even spend the three years in jail.
ReplyDeleteObviously the message here is those who are given the power and authority to ruin lives don't have to worry about any consequences.
This is just another example of them protecting their own.