The village of Elmsford has no sitting judges after its last judge, Jay Bielat, abruptly resigned Friday.
Bielat had only served as the village’s presiding judge for a year, after winning a write-in election to fill a seat left vacant by the departure of Judge Carlos Gonzalez, who was removed from office by the State Commission on judicial conduct in 2022. Gonzalez had been accused of mishandling cases in his capacity as a private attorney.
In his resignation letter, Biélat did not give reasons for his decision to leave the bench. The village’s only other judge, Alphonse Naclerio, could no longer serve after Mayor Robert Williams refused to reappoint him to the bench at the village’s annual reorganization meeting last month. In Elmsford, one of the judicial seats is appointed while the other is elected.
Milena Din, court clerk, said operations would continue as normal, as the 9th Judicial District would send a judge to the courthouse to preside over pending cases in the meantime. Judge Virginia Collins, who sits in Pleasantville, is expected to be sent to Elmsford to help maintain continuity.
“It’s going to continue, because I’m making sure it continues,” Din said. “We make sure things move forward and continue, and that people get the time they’re supposed to get in court.”
Din also worked with neighboring jurisdictions to ensure that people arrested by Elmsford police could be brought to justice and have their cases heard quickly.
Asher Stockler is a reporter for The Journal News and USA Today Network New York. You can email him at [email protected]. Contact him securely: [email protected].
This article originally appeared in the Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Elmsford’s last judge resigns, leaving the village without a judge
