Outrage over convicted divorce judge’s early release

By Thomas Tracy
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 9:09 PM EST

The fact that disgraced judge Gerald Garson will be home for the holidays is “reprehensible” and a “mockery of justice,” a group of divorced mothers and domestic violence survivors claimed Monday as they protested the convicted septuagenarian’s early release from prison.

“Money talks and Garson walks,” screamed Karlene Gordon as she and a handful of protestors from the Voices of Women Organizing Project (VOW) stood across the street of Brooklyn Family Court on Jay Street Monday afternoon. “Gerald Garson and his partner in crime Paul Siminovsky deceived, corrupted and destroyed lives with judicial immunity and protection. Sentenced to a county club, resort-like prison, then allowed to escape his judicial slap on the wrist, Garson’s early release from jail is a slap in the faces of those lives he irreparably destroyed,” she added. “He will complete his sentence, yet the families he injured, on so many different levels, are still serving the sentence this felon imposed on them. His victims continue to suffer in silence without justice or recourse.”

Gordon said she knows about suffering in silence all too well.

Ten years ago Siminovsky helped her ex-husband get full custody of their children under what she claimed to be bogus circumstances. She’s still fighting to get custody. The case was never re-opened, despite Simonovsky’s arrest and conviction for bribing Garson.

VOW, an assemblage of domestic violence survivors working to reform the New York Family Court system, said Garson’s arrest was an example on how domestic abuse victims are further abused when they are forced to stand in front of easily swayed jurists with dollar signs in their eyes.

In 2007, Garson was convicted of bribe receiving and receiving a reward for official misconduct after he was charged with throwing divorce cases to whichever lawyer could feed his hunger for fine food and pricey vacations.

Siminovsky was one of those lawyers. In fact, after he found himself in a spot of trouble, he offered to take part in the sting that took Garson down.

At his sentencing, Garson said that he was “profoundly sorry” for his behavior and that he was “appalled, embarrassed and ashamed” of his conduct.

He was sentenced to three to seven years in prison, yet a state law passed in 1997 allowed his sentencing to be reduced by one-sixth if he holds a “good prison record and accomplishes the milestones that were set for him,” a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Correctional Services said.

“There has been 30,000 inmates who have taken advantage of this small reduction,” the spokesperson said.

Garson was transferred from Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York, to the Fulton Correctional Facility in Harlem back on October 2. He will remain in a temporary release program until his full release on December 23 -- six months early.

A spokesperson for the Kings County District Attorney’s office did not comment on Garson’s early release.

Last month, Michael Vecchione, chief of the DA’s Rackets Division, sent a letter to the New York Department of Parole, demanding that the early release be halted.

“This was an overwhelming case of greed, of selling his office for drinks, lunches, dinners and gifts and of violation of the trust the voters and citizens of Brooklyn placed in him,” Vecchione wrote. “He should serve all the time the law requires him to serve.”

Original Article-

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/12/08/brooklyn/courier_frontpage_garsonout.txt

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In the article above they mention Karlene Gordon. Karlene is my sister from a different mista (Photo Above in the red jacket) She asked me if I would post her entire speach..

Ummm yeah.. of course I will!

Here Goes... Karlene Gordon's Garson Speach in full!

BETRAYAL OF TRUST

Gerald Garson and his partner in crime, Law Guardian, Paul Siminovsky, deceived, corrupted and destroyed lives with judicial immunity and protection. These two felons preyed on defenseless families while disregarding the safety and well being of children and victims of domestic violence. Their success was guaranteed by misusing and abusing their trusted positions as the lawyer for children and the judgeship. Garson and Siminovsky were provided the ultimate protection from the law, by the law.

The same way in which the Securities Exchange Commission failed to protect the public against the likes of Bernie Madoff, the New York State Commission on Judicial misconduct and the Office of Court Administration failed to protect children and parents from the likes of Gerald Garson and Paul Siminovsky. Both of whom are now disbarred felons.

Sentenced to a country club, resort-like-prisons, then allowed to escape his judicial slap on the wrist, Garson’s early release from jail is a slap in the faces of those lives he irreparably destroyed. He will complete his sentence, yet the families he injured, on so many different levels, are still serving the sentence this felon imposed on them….his victims continue to suffer in silence without justice and recourse.

What is to be said of a judicial system that trivializes the destruction of our most vulnerable population by those with unchecked power.

We are here to denounce this mockery of justice by the Courts.

We will not stay quiet while this criminal element, Gerald Garson, is let loose... free to go home while the children he unconscionably sold to the highest bidding parents are still estranged and alienated.

We will not stay quiet while the parents from whom these children were stolen remain stigmatized, demonized and non-custodial...

We will not remain quiet lest our silence is misinterpreted as consent...

The countless complaint against Paul Siminovsky by Family Court litigants were never validated by any regulatory body. Although he was eventually found guilty of bribery and corruption, none of his Family Court cases were ever reviewed for the same offense.
Does this mean that lawyers and Judges are free to break the law in Family Court because there is absolutely no accountability... with cash, cigars and a hand shake, offenders are certain to escape prosecution.

Garson and Siminovsky were not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but I, as one of Siminovsky’s back door paychecks continue to be persecuted by his corruption.

Where is the justice and early release for me, my son and all the other parents who lost custody and have been alienated from their children based on this 'custody for sale' scheme.
We are disgusted with the system and its abuses which are exhibited by its re-victimization of survivors of DV.

Although we, the Voices of Women and Advocates against DV, have made recommendation for DV training of Court personnel which to some extent have been implemented, there is still a lack of adherence and accountability.

Therefore,

I recommend that an outside body, comprising of survivors, advocates, civilians and other professional, be put in place to receive complaints of judicial misconduct.

This complaint review body must be transparent and available to the public, who will monitor those who routinely violate the rights of litigants 10 complaints of blatant prejudice, bias, disregard for the law or impaired judgment, must result in an investigation.

Those under scrutiny must step down from their positions pending the outcome of the inquiry.

I recommend that Judges, Referees, Magistrates and Law Guardians be subject to routine Psychiatric Evaluations by accredited psychiatrists, none of whom can be connected to the Courts.

The results of the evaluation must be available to the public.

Anyone found to be unfit must step down from his or her position

I recommend that Family Court discontinues its practice of providing batterers and abusers with the legal platform they need to continue their history of abuse.

Because we are witnessing

MONEY TALKS & GARSON WALKS….

The question is..

How many lawyers and judges did these two convicted felons mentor and corrupt.