Judge's forced exit will hinder mental health criminal cases in Queens, lawyers say

Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis. Eagle photos by David Brand

By David Brand

A Queens judge tasked with handling complicated criminal cases involving mentally ill defendants will be leaving the bench Dec. 31 after New York court leaders decided to cut ties with nearly every judge over 70 in the state. Attorneys who appear before him say his departure will strike a blow to the justice system in Queens.

For nearly a decade, Justice Ira Margulis has presided over so-called 730 and 330 cases that can require various mental health evaluations, institutionalizations and orders from the bench. 

Cases involving defendants who are not fit to stand trial are known as 730 cases after their designation in criminal procedure law, while decisions on whether to move people out of psychiatric hospitals or into less strict environments are known as 330 cases.

“I enjoy what I’m doing, I think I do a good job and I think that, overall, the prosecutors and the defense bar think that I’m doing a good job,” Margulis said. “I had never planned to retire at 70.”

Many of the mental hygiene cases can take years to resolve.

One lengthy case involved a woman charged with throwing a baby off a balcony. For several years, Margulis deemed the woman unfit to stand trial due to her severe mental illness until she received an intramuscular injection of medication. Margulis kept tabs on her condition and was able to refer to his previous experiences with the woman.

“Eventually she was fit enough that her attorney could talk to her and we did take a ‘not responsible by reason of mental defect’ plea,” he said. “Now she is in a state hospital.”

Unless they are picked up by another judge, Margulis’ court staff will also lose their jobs on Dec. 31 as a result of the effort by state court leaders to trim the budget.

Under state law, Supreme Court justices are required to apply for recertification and undergo cognitive exams every two years after turning 70 until they reach a mandatory retirement age of 76.

The Office of Court Administration denied recertification to 46 of 49 judges over 70 who applied, but did retain three appellate justices with specialty knowledge, responsibilities or skill sets.

Attorneys who appear before Margulis said his institutional knowledge and temperament with defendants with severe mental illness has enabled mental hygiene cases to proceed more smoothly in 2.3 million-person county of Queens. 

Legal Aid attorney Stacy Meisner said losing the knowledge and experience of Margulis and his staff will have a major impact on the Queens criminal justice system.

“I definitely think that it would be harder for the clients,” Meisner said. “He definitely understands the many working parts that are in play when you’re dealing with a client that has a mental illness and potentially going to the hospital and coming back.”

Several parties and agencies are involved in each decision, including the mental hygiene attorneys and hospital staff, she said. 

“Somebody’s going to have to do this job and it’s not the easiest thing to learn,” said Meisner, who has handled mental hygiene cases before Margulis for the past two years. “I think we’re losing a wealth of knowledge there and those cases are not going away.”

Another veteran Legal Aid attorney, Bryan Coakley, said Margulis’ fosters a positive environment and remains patient and attentive while engaging clients..

“What you lose by having him forcibly retired is you potentially lose that dynamic,” said Coakley, who has appeared before Margulis on mental health cases for more than eight years. “He has certainly distinguished himself by being very collaborative, collegial and sensitive to our clients.”

Margulis has also worked well with prosecutors and defense attorneys, Coakley added.

“It’s difficult to know if a client is able to go forward and Judge Margulis has been very sensitive when it comes to competency cases and he listens to the DA’s Office and to the defense attorneys,” he said.

New York court leaders informed county administrative judges that they would not be recertifying the vast majority of judges over 70 in a memo on Sept. 29.

“This extremely difficult but necessary determination will save the court system more than $55 million over the next two years,” wrote Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks. “This will far better help enable the court system to avoid layoffs, or greatly reduce the number of layoffs should that extreme measure become unavoidable.”

OCA spokesperson Lucian Chalfen reiterated Marks’ statement in a response to questions about the decision to let go of Margulis.

“The court system is facing a number of unprecedented challenges, including a budget appropriation reduction of 300 million dollars, which calls for some hard choices and shared sacrifices,” Chalfen said.