The village of Elmsford does not have any sitting judges after its last remaining judge, Jay Bielat, resigned abruptly on Friday.
Bielat had been serving as the village’s presiding justice for only one year, after winning a write-in election to fill a seat left vacant by the departure of Justice Carlos Gonzalez, who was removed from the bench by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct in 2022. Gonzalez had been accused of mishandling cases in his capacity as a private attorney.
In his resignation letter, Bielat did not provide a reason for his decision to leave the bench. The village’s only other judge, Alphonse Naclerio, could no longer serve after Mayor Robert Williams declined to re-appoint him to the bench at the village’s annual reorganization meeting last month. In Elmsford, one of the judicial seats is appointed while the other is elected.
Milena Din, the court clerk, said operations would continue as normal, as the 9th Judicial District would send a judge to the courthouse to preside over pending matters in the interim. Justice Virginia Collins, who serves on the bench in Pleasantville, is expected to be sent to Elmsford to help maintain continuity.
“It’ll continue, because I make sure that it continues,” Din said. “We make sure that we get things rolling and keep on going, and that people get their due time in court that they’re supposed to get.”
Din has also been working with nearby jurisdictions to ensure that individuals arrested by the Elmsford police can be arraigned and have their cases heard promptly.
Asher Stockler is a reporter for The Journal News and the USA Today Network New York. You can send him an email at astockler@lohud.com. Reach him securely: asher.stockler@protonmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Last Elmsford judge resigns from bench, leaving village with no judges