SLC Judge Storie censured for making inappropriate statements on murder case

Apr. 15—CANTON — St. Lawrence County Judge Gregory P. Storie will be censured for inappropriate comments he made about the Michael J. Snow murder case to two attorneys prior to recusing himself from it.

He made the comments after being "privately cautioned" about other inappropriate statements and social media posts, according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

"It is essential to public confidence in the courts that judges be and appear fair and unbiased, and render decisions on the merits, not public opinion," Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said in a statement. "That Judge Storie did not live up to these standards is especially disappointing, since only a month earlier he had been cautioned to abide by the judicial ethics code applicable to all judges."

Snow was charged with murdering 21-year-old SUNY Potsdam student Elizabeth Howell on the night of Feb. 18, 2022. As a county court judge, Storie presides over all felony cases prosecuted in the county. He ended up filing a recusal form on Jan. 18, 2023. At the time, the only information available on the recusal was that it was because two then-unnamed attorneys questioned Storie's impartiality in the matter.

"I wish to avoid any potential appearance of impropriety that my impartiality might be questioned as it may appear that: counsel has questioned by impartiality in this matter," Storie wrote on the recusal form.

Now that he's being censured, the state judicial conduct commission has released more details on what led to that. They say Storie told the two attorneys that he would base Snow's sentencing based on how it would appear in the press and to Howell's family. He also said he believed Snow would take the plea because he appeared to be mentally incapacitated, "catatonic," the judicial commission quotes Storie as having said. Snow ended up getting a 22-year sentence handed down by Franklin County Judge Craig P. Carreiro, who took over presiding the case after Storie stepped aside.

"In January 2023, while conferencing unrelated cases in chambers with Mr. McGahan and [Assistant District Attorney Michael Abbruzzese], who was not involved in the Snow case, Judge Storie raised the Snow case, asked whether the defendant would plead guilty as charged, and said he would impose a sentence of 25 years to life, because anything less would not look good to the media or to the victim's family," the commission wrote.

"When asked what incentive there would be to plead guilty under such circumstances, the judge replied that the defendant may do it because he appeared to be 'catatonic.' Subsequently, as a result of the judge's comments, Public Defender McGahan and DA Pasqua jointly requested that Judge Storie recuse himself from the Snow case, which he did," the commission said.

Just a month prior to making the unethical statements on the Snow case, Storie had been "privately cautioned" by the state's judicial commission for actions in the courtroom and on social media.

The caution, according the to commission, was for "publicly endorsing other candidates for elective office, and posting and/or soliciting posts of photographs of voted ballots on his campaign's Facebook page." The commission said he also "[failed] to disqualify himself from a matter [where] he was related to the victim and the victim's mother, a witness in the case; and ... arbitrarily increasing bail following an application for bail reduction."

In its written determination, the commission found it troubling that Judge Storie engaged in misconduct roughly two weeks after receiving a letter of dismissal and caution and that he should have been especially attentive to his obligation to follow the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct. In accepting the jointly recommended sanction of censure, the commission noted that the judge acknowledged that his conduct was improper and warrants public discipline.