Two seek four lines in County Court Judge race

Rick Pfeiffer, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·2 min read

Jun. 19—Two familiar names in Niagara County legal circles are squaring off in a four-way primary race for a seat on the county court bench.

Lockport attorneys John J. Ottaviano and Michael Benedict are each seeking the Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Working Families party lines for the November general election. The county court seat is being vacated by retiring Judge Matthew J. Murphy III.

Benedict ran in the primaries in 2020 for the seat of retiring Judge Sara Sheldon. He had been Sheldon's confidential law clerk.

However, he was knocked out of the race by then District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek, who also had served as a confidential law clerk to Sheldon, and who won her seat in the 2020 general election.

Benedict is a former deputy corporation counsel for the City of Lockport and served for four years as Sheldon's principal law clerk. Prior to that post, Benedict served as a lead felony attorney for the Niagara County Public Defender's Office from 2006-2016 and was in private practice from 2005 to 2016.

"Our next county court judge must be prepared on Day One to not only address complex legal issues — especially in criminal law — but to also seamlessly maintain the operations of a very busy courtroom," Benedict said. "Over the past 16 years I have acquired the legal qualifications and practical experience to honorably serve this community as county court judge."

Ottaviano is currently the first assistant Niagara County attorney and has a private law practice as well. He began his legal career in 1986 clerking for then Niagara County District Attorney Peter Broderick.

As an assistant county attorney for the last four years, Ottaviano has prosecuted youthful offenders in Niagara County Family Court. Ottaviano was appointed corporation counsel for the city of Lockport in 1993 and served in that post for 25 years.

"I will bring 34 years of vast legal and life experience to this important role to ensure that justice is firmly and fairly administered in all county and surrogate court proceedings," Ottaviano said. "My skill set of critical thinking, creative reasoning and problem solving across a multitude of legal arenas makes me best and uniquely prepared to discharge these important duties."

Ottaviano has been in private practice since 1986, starting with the law firm Earl, DeLange, May, Jones & Schmidt. He established his own firm in 1993 and has been associated with Harris Beach, PLLC and Rupp, Baase, Pfalzgraf & Cunningham, LLC.