Note: This article has been updated with information from People's Caucus of Briarcliff Manor Chair Keith Austin. The article now states only Weinstein was nominated through the caucus.
Over a span of more than six months in Briarcliff Manor’s , Salvatore Maglietta piled up . Now, the court has sanctioned a disappearance.
A member of the Briarcliff Manor school board, Maglietta, 57, was facing trial on a second-degree harassment charge, a violation, earlier this month. A fellow trustee, Rosella Ranno, 63, that he had pushed her on election night, May 17.
Since then, Village Justice Fred D. Weinstein has presided at each juncture in the case, including a couple of requested postponements and, , at Maglietta’s request for a jury trial, which . On the eve of the scheduled trial, a Friday, however, Maglietta’s lawyer, Andrew Rubin of White Plains, abruptly asked Weinstein to step aside as judge in the case, citing a potential conflict of interest.
On Monday, Jan. 9, Weinstein and his backup, Village Justice Laurie Sullivan, removed themselves.
Weinstein noted he had been nominated for the position by the People's Caucus of Briarcliff Manor, a organization on which Ranno, the complainant, sat as a member of the executive committee.
In separate letters to state Supreme Court Justice Alan D. Scheinkman, who among other things oversees the justice court’s operations, both Sullivan and Weinstein cited a perception of conflict of interest.
Scheinkman, the 9th Judicial District’s presiding judge, must now move the case to a neighboring jurisdiction, but only after receiving a formal request from the Westchester district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case. Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the district attorney, said no date or location had been determined and likely would not be until next week, at the earliest.
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