BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has determined that St. Lawrence County Court Judge Gregory P. Storie should be censured for "making statements conveying his bias against a defendant and indicating his sentencing decision would be influenced by public opinion."

That's according to a press release from the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“It is essential to public confidence in the courts that judges be and appear fair and unbiased, and render decisions on the merits, not public opinion. That Judge Storie did not live up to these standards is especially disappointing, since only a month earlier he had been cautioned to abide by the judicial ethics code applicable to all judges,” Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said in a prepared statement.

Storie said he would not be commenting on the matter nor would he share if he plans to appeal the ruling.

Judge Storie, who had been confidentially cautioned by the Commission for other misconduct only a month earlier, agreed to the censure, the commission says.

Beginning in 2022, Judge Storie presided over a high-profile murder trial, People v Snow. St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary M. Pasqua and Public Defender James M. McGahan were the lawyers.

According to the commission, in January 2023, while conferencing unrelated cases in chambers with Mr. McGahan and an assistant district attorney who was not involved in the Snow case, Judge Storie raised the Snow case, asked whether the defendant would plead guilty as charged, and said he would impose a sentence of 25 years to life, because anything less would not look good to the media or to the victim’s family.

"When asked what incentive there would be to plead guilty under such circumstances, the judge replied that the defendant may do it because he appeared to be “catatonic.” Subsequently, as a result of the judge’s comments, Public Defender McGahan and DA Pasqua jointly requested that Judge Storie recuse himself from the Snow case.

Storie did recuse himself as reported by NorthCountryNow at the time, but he did not disclose why.

Previously cautioned

According to the commission, in December 2022, Judge Storie was privately cautioned by the Commission for publicly endorsing other candidates for elective office, and posting and/or soliciting posts of photographs of voted ballots on his campaign’s Facebook page. 

Additionally he was cautioned for failing to disqualify himself from a matter notwithstanding that he was related to the victim and the victim’s mother, a witness in the case. Finally, he was cautioned for arbitrarily increasing bail following an application for bail reduction.

In its determination, the commission "found it troubling” that Storie engaged in this misconduct roughly two weeks after receiving the Letter of Dismissal and Caution and that he “should have been especially attentive to his obligation to follow the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct.”

The commission says that by accepting the jointly recommended sanction of censure, the judge “acknowledged that his conduct was improper and warrants public discipline.”

Judge Storie has been a Judge of the St. Lawrence County Court since 2021, having previously served as a Justice of the Canton Village Court St. Lawrence County from 2010 to 2012. His current term expires on Dec. 31, 2030.

The Commission Proceedings

Judge Storie was served with a Formal Written Complaint dated Jan. 4, 2024, containing one charge. On January 29, 2024, the Administrator of the Commission, Judge Storie and his attorney entered into an Agreed Statement of Facts, stipulating to the facts and sanction and waiving further submissions and oral argument.

The Commission accepted the Agreed Statement on March 14, 2024.

The Commission filed a determination dated April 3, 2024, in which all 11 members concurred, according to a release from the commission.

The Commission was notified on April 12, 2024, that Judge Storie had received the determination. Consequently, the matter is now public.

According to the commission, Storie may either accept the Commission's determination or, within 30 days from receipt, make a written request to the Chief Judge for a review of the determination by the Court of Appeals.

The commission says that if Judge Storie does not request review by the Court of Appeals, the Commission will censure him in accordance with the determination.

"If a Commission determination is reviewed by the Court of Appeals, the Court may accept the determined sanction, impose a different sanction including admonition, censure or removal, or impose no sanction."

Since 1978 the Commission has only publicly censured 330 judges. Of those 241 were town or village justices and only 31 of those were actual lawyers. If censured, Judge Storie would be one of only 109  non-local judges to be censured by the commission.

In St. Lawrence County, only four judges have been censured since 1978.

That includes former Fowler Town Justice Paul Lamson in 2012, former Clare Town Justice Harold Giffin in 1995, former Morristown Town Justice James T. Phillips Jr. in 1990 and former Lisbon Town Justice David Sandburg in 1986.