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Gerald P. "Gerry" Garson (born August 3, 1932) is a former New York Supreme Court Justice who heard matrimonial divorce and child custody cases in Brooklyn. He was convicted in 2007 of accepting bribes to manipulate the outcome of divorce proceedings.

Early career

Garson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

An Air Force veteran, he founded a law firm in 1962. In the 1970s and 1980s, Garson had a lucrative practice as a lawyer for owners of taxi fleets, defending taxi drivers and owners in negligence suits. He was also a treasurer from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s for a political action committee arm of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, the Brooklyn Democrats, having been appointed by his former law practice colleague Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden.

In 1984, while he was in private practice, Garson was censured by the state for treating a civil judge and his wife to a weekend vacation in the Catskills, falsely registering the judge under an assumed name, and lying about the incident to investigators.

Judge

In 1997, Norman put Garson on the ballot for the New York Supreme Court, the highest state court below the appellate level. He won the Democratic primary, and then won the 1998 general election, and became a Justice in "Matrimonial Part 5B" in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn (the equivalent of county court). In an anonymous survey of lawyers, he was described as "always well prepared" and as having "excellent settlement skills."

In 2001, he was applauded by feminists for ordering an Orthodox Jewish man to pay his wife $500 a week for life, because the man refused to grant his wife a religious divorce, or get.

In five years as a judge in Brooklyn, Garson handled 1,100 matrimony cases, and made decisions on child custody and financial matters.

Indictment

In October 2002, a mother in a bitter child-custody dispute being heard by Garson told the DA's Office that she had been told that her husband had bribed the judge to fix the case through the lawyer Garson had appointed as law guardian for her children, divorce lawyer Paul Siminovsky.

Garson was indicted in 2003 on charges that for years he accepted cash and other gifts from a lawyer who practiced frequently before him in divorce and custody cases as payment for preferential treatment, and for coaching by Garson as to how to argue some of the cases. Also charged were Siminovsky, as well as one of his clients, a court officer, a former clerk, and a "fixer". All were charged with felonies.

Siminovsky pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for having given unlawful gratuities, in exchange for his cooperation in Garson's prosecution, which included wearing a hidden microphone.

Ezra Zifrani and his daughter Esther Weitzner pleaded guilty in February 2004 to one misdemeanor conspiracy charge for giving $5,000 to an intermediary, Nissim Elmann, to influence Garson's handling of a custody dispute between Weitzner and her ex-husband involving their five children. They did not know, however, whether the money was actually paid to Garson. In exchange for their pleas and promise to cooperate in the investigation, they were each sentenced to 210 hours of community service and three years of probation. They said that in November 2002 the intermediary "clearly implied" he was going to bribe Garson. Elmann, a Brooklyn electronics dealer and salesman, faced bribery and conspiracy charges.

Paul Sarnell, a clerk for Garson, and Louis Salerno, a 24-year veteran court officer who had been placed on modified duty, were tried in August 2004 with taking bribes to steer Simonivsky's cases to Garson. Prosecutors charged that Elmann would send potential divorce clients to Siminovsky, who would would then enlist Salerno or Sarnell to steer his clients' cases, which were supposed to be assigned randomly, to Garson, whom Siminovsky had spent years cultivating with meals, drinks, and cigars. Garson, prosecutors said, fed Siminovsky arguments to use in court that he would rule favorably on. Salerno and Sarnell, prosecutors said, received thousands of dollars in cash, plane tickets, and plastic bags of electronic equipment from Elmann's warehouse for their efforts. Prosecutors said that when Siminovsky needed a case to come before Garson, Sarnell would go to an administrative clerk and tell her that Garson wanted the case reassigned to him. After Sarnell retired in 2002, prosecutors said, Salerno took over his role. Both men were charged with receiving bribes and faced up to seven years in prison if convicted.

As a result, divorce cases were reopened, and the system of nominating judges was ruled unconstitutional.

Garson's case led to a widespread political and judicial corruption inquiry in Brooklyn.

After he was confronted with surveillance videotapes from a video camera that the DA's Office had installed in his chambers pursuant to a warrant, and other evidence, in 2003, Garson agreed to wear a wire to gather evidence that a seat on the bench could be purchased with cash payments to Norman and the county Democratic Party. But he was not successful in his effort to tape Democratic Party officials discussing buying and selling judgeships.

In June 2004, Avraham Levi pleaded guilty to giving a middleman $10,000 to obtain favorable treatment from Garson. In a videotape, Garson gave Siminovsky detailed instructions as to how to argue a divorce case before him, and assured Siminovsky that if he followed them, "The worst possible scenario is a win." On tape, Garson told Siminovsky that he would award his client in the case, Avraham Levi, the rights to a house, and Garson used an expletive to describe how the decision would affect the client's estranged wife, Sigal. Garson dictated to Siminovsky the exact language he should use in a memo to Garson, and urged him to charge his client extra for the memo. Garson granted the divorce in January 2003, but did not have an opportunity to rule on the house because he was arrested beforehand.

Clarence Norman Jr., a long-time Kings County Democratic Party leader who helped place Garson on the bench, was however convicted and sent to prison on corruption charges of extortion, soliciting illegal contributions from a lobbyist, and stealing $5,000 from his re-election committee. Garson was not successful in his effort to tape Democratic Party officials discussing buying and selling judgeships.

In April 2004, Judge Steven W. Fisher dismissed some of the case against Garson; six felony counts of receiving rewards for official misconduct, which were based on rules of judicial misconduct. The judge held that breaking those rules would not be a crime, but instead an issue to be decided by administrative discipline.

In February 2005, Elmann, portrayed by prosecutors as a "fixer", pleaded guilty to seven felonies and six misdemeanors of bribery and conspiracy for arranging bribes in divorce and child custody cases for people in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community. He admitted to accepting thousands of dollars of cash and passing it to Siminovsky to arrange preferential treatment in cases before Garson. His judge indicated that the sentence would probably amount to between one and a half and seven years in prison.

Garson was suspended from the bench, and ultimately resigned. In 2006, he received but rejected an offer to plead guilty to two minor felonies, in exchange for a 16-month sentence in a local jail. His trial was delayed as he sought treatment for cancer and underwent surgery, and while a pretrial ruling dismissing some of the charges against him was appealed by the prosecutors.

Trial and conviction

The Brooklyn district attorney Charles J. Hynes' chief of investigations, Michael Vecchione, prosecuted Garson as part of a larger corruption inquiry. The prosecution alleged that Garson had an agreement with a divorce lawyer for Garson to take cash, dinners, and cigars in exchange for courtroom assignments and favored treatment.

Prosecutors provided as evidence financial records and video surveillance recordings showing Siminovsky handing Garson an envelope containing cash in the judge's robing room, as well as testimony from Siminovsky. Siminovsky, disbarred as a lawyer, testified that he entertained the judge with drinks and meals, and gave him money and cigars, in exchange for favorable treatment and legal assignments. The prosecution alleged that before Siminovsky began cooperating with prosecutors, he had already entertained Garson more than 40 times, spending $3,149.

Garson was convicted in April 2007, after a four-week trial in State Supreme Court in Downtown Brooklyn, of accepting bribes to manipulate the outcome of divorce proceedings (bribery in the third degree, a Class D felony), and of two lesser charges of receiving a reward for official misconduct in the second degree (a class E felony). The jury acquitted him on four other counts of receiving a reward for official misconduct in the second degree.

Following Garson's conviction, his lawyers pleaded for leniency on the basis of his reported alcoholism, bladder cancer, and other medical conditions. In June 2007 Justice Jeffrey Berry sentenced Garson to between 3 and 10 years in prison. His lawyers tried to delay his sentence on account of his granddaughter's death and the care of his mentally retarded grown son. His lawyer also said he would appeal. He entered an alcohol detoxification program for six days, after which he surrendered at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn to begin serving his sentence on June 28, 2007.

He was released on December 23, 2009.

Family

Garson has four children.

His second wife, Robin Garson, a Brooklyn Law School graduate, handled cases involving the elderly, was a volunteer election lawyer for the Democratic Party helping eliminate opponents from the ballot, and was on several county bar committees. In 2002 she was put up by the Democratic Party for Brooklyn Civil Court, a level below New York Supreme Court, and was elected a judge on the court.

References

1. ^ Newman, Andy (April 24, 2003). "Brooklyn Judge Faces Charges Of Corruption". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/nyregion/18judge.html
3. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/nyregion/20judge.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
4. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/nyregion/20judgecnd.html?bl&ex=1177128000&en=191c1af34e92a5ff&ei=5087%0A
5. ^ Newman, Andy (July 5, 2003). "Politics Laid Bare – Success and Scandal in Family of Judges". New York City: The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
6. ^ "Brooklyn's Courthouse Gang – Editorial". New York State: The New York Times. May 1, 2003. Retrieved July 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. ^ Newman, Andy (April 30, 2004). "Some Charges Against Judge Are Dismissed". New York City: The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
8. ^ Glaberson, William (February 6, 2004). "2 Plead Guilty of Conspiring to Sway Judge". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. Newman, Andy (August 18, 2004). "In Brooklyn, Bribe Trial Opens Against Court Aides". Brooklyn (NYC): The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
10. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/nyregion/06judge.html
11. "Ex-Judge Gets 3 to 10 Years for Bribery, Taking Favors". Law.com. Retrieved July 22, 2010.

• 'Bribery' Judge's Lawyer Calls it Quits, November 17, 2006, by Alex Ginsberg
• Brooklyn Dems Celebrate as Scandal Mounts For Judges, It's One-Stop Shopping
• Humbled by Scandal, Judge Begins Prison Term, June 29, 2007, by Michael Brick

• 1932 births
• Living people
• University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
• New York Supreme Court Justices
• New York lawyers
• Corruption in the United States
• People convicted of bribery
• Divorce law