Middletown City Court Judge Richard Guertin said he is running for a county judgeship to put decades of legal knowledge and experiences to use at a higher level for his community.
In the past decades, Judge Guertin practiced almost every facet of municipal law in Orange County, including advising three Middletown mayors as a city attorney, before making the leap onto the bench.
As a city judge, he said he strived to respect individuals appearing before him, make the complex legal system understandable for laymen, and come to decisions in the eyes of the law.
“If I can help people—they may lose, or they may not like my decision—understand the process and see that the justice system works for them, I’ve done a good job,” he told The Epoch Times.
Above all, he said he treasured the ability as a judge to impact one person at a time by doing what he deems right in the context of the law.
“I really feel that being a judge, ultimately, is my calling,” he told the publication. “It goes back to when I was in the Boy Scouts. It is about serving people.”
Boy Scouts Spirit
“Do a good turn daily—that was the phrase that we were taught at Boy Scouts to help at least one person a day,” he said. “We also had three merit badges of citizenship in the community, nation, and world.”As a high schooler, he was active in Key Club, a student organization under Kiwanis International that cultivates leadership through service; he was elected New York district governor in his senior year.
Seeing politics as a means of service, he volunteered on the campaign of former Middletown Alderman John Degnan as a high school student.
“So from an early age, I felt that if you wanted things to be better in your community, you had to be involved,” Judge Guertin said.
After graduation, he studied social sciences and government at Orange County Community College. He spent a year working for Congressman Benjamin Gilman in Washington before pursuing a degree at Hamilton College.
He graduated from New York University Law School in 1981.
Municipal Law Practice
After working at an international firm for two years in Los Angeles and Washington, he got an invitation to come home to join the law firm of former state Sen. John Bonacic.“Washinton was great, but I always had dreams of having a family and being involved in more of a localized community—I thought the best path would be back home,” Judge Guertin said.
The post introduced him to municipal law, which he grew to like because of the ability to advise public officials on how to make positive things happen within the legal boundaries.
Aside from running his own practice, he served as a lawyer for the Town of Wawayanda and Wallkill, legal counsel for the Otisville Planning Board, an attorney for Thrall Public Library District and Monroe Free Library, and city attorney for Middletown.
He served under three Middletown mayors—Dan Johnson, Gert Mokotoff, and Joseph DeStefano—for more than two decades.
“I always looked at my role as an impartial adviser,” he said. “Politicians are elected by the people to make the policies. If they want to achieve something, I tell them what the law allows and doesn’t allow.
“I was a behind-the-scenes guy, and I enjoyed that.”
As the city attorney for Middletown, he drafted codes governing bulk tax lien sales and the use of laser pointers. He served as legal counsel in negotiations about Heritage Trail and applications for the transformative $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative state grant.
Years on the City Bench
In 2003, he was elected city court judge in Middletown, presiding over various traffic and city code violations, landlord and tenant disputes, civil and small claims cases, and criminal offenses.“What I realized is that being a lawyer and a judge is very different,” he said. “As a lawyer, you are advising and advocating for your client’s interest to the extent that legally you can.
“But as a judge, you don’t take a side; you say, ‘What are different sides telling me, and out of that, what is the truth?’ And I actually like that role,” Judge Guertin said.
People who appeared before him in court were often those who ran into some form of trouble, and he strived to understand them individually.
“A lot of people are nervous or scared about going to court, and I see my role not to be the tough guy on the bench but to try to put myself in their shoes and see where I can help them to understand the process,” he said. “Just because I am wearing a black robe doesn’t mean I am better than anybody; it just means that I am in a different position.”
Two years later, Judge Guertin, along with Mr. DeStefano and then-Economic Development Director Neil Novesky, were indicted in an alleged corruption scheme.
Both Judge Guertin and Mr. Novesky were cleared of all charges following a bench trial at the county court, and Mr. DeStefano’s convictions were overturned in court after appeals.
Judge Guertin returned to the bench in 2018 and has served until now.
County Judge Run
The seat was vacated by former County Court Judge William DeProspo, who resigned in March to resolve misconduct charges brought by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.Unlike a city judge, a county court judge deals mostly with criminal cases under state penal codes, a judicial responsibility that Judge Guertin said he took seriously.
“The stakes are high as you are literally dealing with someone’s personal liberty, which is an awesome responsibility, whereas in civil cases, it is more economical,” he said.
On top of more than 40 years of legal experience, Judge Guertin will also bring to the higher seat the respect he has for individuals appearing before him.
“I’ve tried to run my judgeship in a way that respects the rights of the parties in front of me and the needs of the lawyers who are appearing in front of me, and ultimately, in a way that respects the law.”
Judge Guertin has raised four children and has four grandchildren, with one more grandson on the way.
