ALBANY – The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct (the Commission) has determined that Poughkeepsie City Court Judge Frank Mora should be removed from the bench for his actions following a COVID-era incident at a local eye doctor’s office.
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The manager of Seeta Eye Center, Stacey Koch, filed a complaint with the Commission after a December 2021 incident involving Judge Mora, who refused to obey the Seeta mask policy. The incident escalated, and the Town of Poughkeepsie Police responded to the office because Judge Mora refused to leave.
Mora was vocally opposed to the COVID vaccination and mask policies that were instituted globally to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. .
In January 2022, then , who oversaw trial courts in New York’s Ninth Judicial District, ordered Mora to stay out of his courtroom for failing to be vaccinated.
While the commission was investigating the complaint against Mora, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Koch seeking $425,000 in damages. The commission determined the lawsuit was retaliation against Koch for filing the original complaint.
The commission noted that Mora was wrong for not leaving the doctor’s office when asked, but stressed that the recommendation for removal was appropriate based on the retaliatory lawsuit itself.
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Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said, “A judge must act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. It is inimical to the role of a judge to seek vengeance rather than justice in court. By suing a woman for hundreds of thousands of dollars for simply having filed a disciplinary complaint against him, Judge Mora escalated what might have been an admonition for churlish behavior at a medical office into removal from the bench for a shocking act of retaliation.”
According to the commission, after a removal determination is rendered, it is the court’s practice to suspend the judge, with pay. Mora has 30 days to request full review of the commission’s determination by the Court of Appeals. Should the judge request review of the commission’s removal determination, the court’s practice is to continue the suspension while the review is pending.
If Mora requests review, the court sets a schedule for the parties to file briefs and appear for oral argument. On review, the court may accept or reject the commission’s findings of fact or conclusions of law, may accept the determined sanction, impose a different sanction including admonition or censure, or impose no sanction.
Mora has been an attorney since 1997 and was appointed judge in 2011. His current term expires December 31, 2030.
Judge Mora did not immediately respond to a Mid-Hudson News request for comment.
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