On Wednesday, June 18, 2025, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct announced that Mitchell H. Edelstein, a Justice of the Long Lake Town Court in Hamilton County, resigned effective June 13, 2025, amid an ongoing investigation.
Edelstein, who is not an attorney, agreed never to seek or accept judicial office again as part of a stipulation signed with the Commission’s Administrator on June 5, 2025. The Commission accepted the stipulation on June 12, 2025.
The investigation, initiated in February 2025, examined allegations of delays in depositing court-collected funds and in resolving certain cases. Additionally, Edelstein was accused of failing to recuse himself from two traffic cases involving immediate family members of professional acquaintances.
Commission Administrator stated, “All judges are required to dispose of court business fairly and efficiently. Where there is a conflict, they must either disqualify themselves or disclose it to the parties, depending on the circumstances. Town and village justices have an additional obligation to deposit court-collected funds promptly. Judge Edelstein’s resignation is an appropriate end to the Commission’s inquiry into such complaints against him.”
Edelstein, who has served as a town justice since January 1, 2012, was in a term set to expire on December 31, 2027.
A copy of the press release can be found here.
