A New York state judge, whose home was searched by law enforcement last month amid the federal prosecution of one of his former clients, committed suicide on Tuesday, one of his attorneys said.
The judge, John L. Michalski, an acting state Supreme Court judge, was found dead shortly before noon at his home in a Buffalo suburb of Amherst, NY, said attorney, Terrence Connors.
“It’s hard to explain what a tragedy this is,” said Mr. Connors, a longtime friend of Judge Michalski, adding that “it would be difficult to find a judge more respected” in New York’s Western legal community.
Amherst police were unable to provide any information about Judge Michalski’s death late Tuesday. A spokesman for the state court did not respond to a request for comment. Justice Michalski was appointed to the Court of Claims in 2006 and appointed acting Supreme Court judge that same year, according to his official court biography.
Judge Michalski’s death, aged 61, came just over a year after another apparent suicide attempt in which, according to police records, he was hit by a freight train after being on the tracks at a rail yard near Buffalo in the middle of the city. night. He sustained a serious leg injury but was otherwise unharmed, Mr. Connors.
The episode prompted him to say goodbye to his $210,900-a-year seat on the couch. He returned to work in January after meeting all the requirements to do so and began taking on a full caseload, said Mr. Connors.
But last month, Justice Michalski came under scrutiny and his cases were reassigned after federal and state detectives raided his home. He had not been charged with any crime, but he had drawn the attention of authorities because of his ties to Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of a strip club in Cheektowaga, another suburb of Buffalo.
mr. Gerace was charged in federal court in Florida last year with sex trafficking, drug distribution and bribery of a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent. He denies the charges and the case has since been turned over to the Western District of New York.
The former agent, Joseph Bongiovanni, has been charged with bribery, obstruction and conspiracy. An indictment detailing the charges against the two men says Mr Bongiovanni’s associates were people “who he believed were members of, associated with or associated with” organized crime.
Another man identified in the indictment as having links to organized crime is Michael Masecchia, a former Buffalo school teacher who is now serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to gun and drug charges.
The episode where Judge Michalski was hit by the train happened on the same day Mr. Gerace was charged. At the time, another Justice Michalski attorney told The Buffalo News that federal authorities had contacted the judge two weeks earlier to ask about Mr. Gerace.
The relationship between the men stretched back decades, to the time when the judge had private practice and legal work for Mr. Gerace’s club, the attorney, Anthony J. Lana, told The News.
In 2006, The News reported, Judge Michalski wrote a letter to a federal judge requesting a lenient sentence for Mr. Gerace, who was convicted of wire fraud in connection with a lottery telemarketing company. In the letter, The News reported, the judge said he and Mr Gerace had been friends for ten years.
Connors said on Tuesday that Judge Michalski, a city attorney in Amherst and an assistant district attorney in Erie County earlier in his career, “had repeatedly stated to authorities that he had no knowledge of Mr. Gerace’s alleged illegal activities. †
“He was a customer,” Mr. Connors said of the men’s relationship. Based on the information contained in the search warrants carried out on Judge Michalski’s home last month, he added, the investigators appeared to be targeting an online business where the judge’s wife ran from home and sold clothes on consignment. .
“If they had called me and asked what they were looking for, we would have given it to them,” said Mr Connors. “We would have worked together the same way we always have.”
According to a well-known person, the judge was also the subject of an investigation by the public prosecutor into possible corruption. No charges had been filed against him in connection with the investigation.
Judge Michalski’s professional and personal conduct, including his mental state during and after last year’s apparent suicide attempt, was also investigated by the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission, an independent agency investigating allegations of misconduct involving the New York judges.
The commission’s investigation, according to The News, focused on allegations that he received $5,000 for performing Mr. Gerace’s wedding in 2014 — well over the $100 allowed by state law.
mr. Connors predicted that Justice Michalski would be widely mourned in the coming days.
“I can’t tell you how many calls I got today,” he said. “People are just in shock.”
Kirsten Noyes research contributed.
If you have suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. Here is what you can do when a loved one is severely depressed.