Diallo judge expects no-nonsense in his courtroom

A registered Democrat who served as a public defender for 21 years before taking the bench in 1994, Albany Supreme Court Justice Teresi was chosen last December to handle the high-profile case. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (Court TV) —When newly-appointed Diallo trial judge Joseph Teresi declared the New York state law banning cameras in the courtroom unconstitutional, he sent reverberations through the justice system and media. But his decision is born less from a rebellious personality than from his famously strict adherence to efficient judicial proceedings.

A registered Democrat who served as a public defender for 21 years before taking the bench in 1994, Albany Supreme Court Justice Teresi was chosen to replace Bronx Supreme Court Justice Patricia Anne Williams, when the New York Appellate Court moved the case upstate last December. Williams could not accompany the case to Albany due to her status as an acting judge. The court accepted defense lawyers' claims that pretrial publicity had made it impossible to seat an impartial jury in the Bronx, where the shooting took place.

Teresi is a graduate of Boston College, where he earned a cum laude B.S. degree in accounting, and of Albany Law School in 1971. He earned an honorable discharge the same year from the Army, where he began service with ROTC and later served as a Second Lieutenant Military Intellegence officer.

And the judge brings a sense of military efficiency and order to his courtroom. "There are two things he will not tolerate," said Mike Koenig, an Albany criminal defense attorney who has worked with Justice Teresi. "A lawyer being unprepared and a lawyer who acts in a blustery way." Any attorney who expects leniency for a late witness or theatrical posturing has come to the wrong courtroom.

"You're not going to have a case that's out of control — not even close," said Thomas Dulin, a defense lawyer who has argued many criminal and civil cases before Justice Teresi. According to Dulin, the judge allows no nonsense and is also known for his temper. "He has a quick fuse," said Dulin, adding, "sometimes his flexibility is lacking."

But many lawyers familiar with Justice Teresi, while citing his apparent lack of leniency, are quick to point out that he is an equal-opportunity taskmaster toward both prosecutors and defense attorneys. Said Dulin, "He's fair — he doesn't take sides."

According to Koenig, under Justice Teresi, the Diallo case "will be a model for what a criminal trial should be, a model of judicial efficiency."

Which is not to say that there won't be fireworks. Most lawyers who have experience with Justice Teresi attest to his temper.

And the television access motion is not the first time Justice Teresi has ruled a law unconstitutional. In 1998, he declared that a law allowing the creation of a special school district violated the separation of church and state. The Kiryas Joel School District had exclusively served disabled students of the Hasidic Satmar religious sect.

Outside the courtroom, Justice Teresi, 53, is a father of four grown children. He "likes to fish" and is "down-to-earth," said defense attorney Peter Gerstenzang, who has known the judge for over 20 years and used to work with him when they were both public defenders.

As judge, that "down-to-earth" quality translates to a refusal to tolerate unprofessionalism and a determination to move things along. His decision to rule the television ban unconstitutional mirrors the way he runs his courtroom.

In his ruling, Justice Teresi wrote that allowing the New York experiment on television coverage to lapse and the ban to become law is "a monument to politically created procrastination and inaction." Lawyers in the Diallo case had better not waste this judge's time.

— Laura Barandes