Then President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File).
A state judge has agreed to resign and not seek “judicial office at any time in the future” after the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct launched an investigation into his attendance at the pro-Donald Trump rally on Jan. 6 that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
Donald Spaccio has served as a justice on the Montour Falls Village Court in upstate Schuyler County, N.Y. — southeast from Rochester and southwest from Syracuse — since 2001. Spaccio, who isn’t a lawyer and didn’t have to be for this position, reportedly told the New York Law Journal that he was, in fact, in Washington on Jan. 6 but that he didn’t take part in the violence that day, only showing up to attend Trump’s rally because of apparent concerns about where the country was heading.
After an investigation into his presence on Jan. 6 and two other complaints was launched in April, the commission said, Spaccio on Sept. 9 agreed to resign from office effective as of Oct. 7 and agreed he “will neither seek nor accept judicial office at any time in the future” — or else face the prospect of a “revived” probe.
“I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from the position of Town Justice for the Town of Montour Falls, and Village Justice for the Village of Montour Falls, effective October 7, 2024,” said Spaccio’s resignation letter, attached as an exhibit. “It has been a privilege to serve as both Town and Village Justice. Thank you for the opportunity to serve my community.”
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The commission noted that there were two other incidents, one involving an invocation of his office as he shouted at cops over a propane cannon issue the other involving his yelling of “profanities” at an officer:
In April 2024, the Commission apprised Judge Spaccio that it was investigating complaints that he: (A) shouted at law enforcement officers and invoked his judicial office when police asked him to remove a propane cannon from the roof of his building, (B) yelled profanities at the Town of Montour Code Enforcement Officer during the course of a dispute, and (C) attended the political rally in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, notwithstanding the prohibition on judicial participation in political activities outside the “Window Period” when a judge or judicial candidate is running for elected judicial office.
In a statement on the resignation, New York Commission on Judicial Conduct Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian emphasized that Spaccio’s Jan. 6 rally attendance was “impermissible.”
“Judges may not engage in political activity except for a limited time when running for office, and even then there are constraints on what they may do,” Tembeckjian said. “Whether or not a judge was a candidate, attending the rally in Washington on January 6, 2021, was impermissible. So is invoking one’s judicial title in the midst a testy personal dispute.”
Read the resignation agreement and decision here and here.
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