Criminal Court Reality Check: A Judge’s Do’s, Don’ts & Don’t-Even-Try-Its

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The Honorable Sylvia Hinds-Radix (Ret.) joined JAMS in 2024 after a distinguished career as New York City’s 81st corporation counsel and as a jurist in New York state courts, most recently serving from 2012 to 2022 as an associate justice of the Appellate Division, Supreme Court of the State of New York, Second Judicial Department. Judge Hinds-Radix, the first Caribbean-born person and woman of color, and the second woman overall to serve as corporation counsel, oversaw the wide-ranging operations of the New York City Law Department. As the city’s chief legal officer, she led the department primarily responsible for providing legal representation to the city, its mayor and other elected officials, and its myriad agencies in civil litigation matters. She also oversaw the operations of the Family Court Division, the city’s prosecutorial arm in family law matters. As corporation counsel, she created new divisions for Ethics & Compliance and Risk Management, promoted residents' health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, and secured housing for thousands during the migrant crisis. She negotiated a landmark agreement with the Legal Aid Society in Callahan v. Carey, providing New York City with the flexibility to address migrants’ needs during this emergency. Under her guidance, the department promoted economic development and recovered tens of millions of dollars in affirmative lawsuits. Judge Hinds-Radix presided over and resolved numerous cases through pretrial rulings, bench and jury trials, judgments, and settlement conferences. She served as an associate justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, and in 2020, was designated a member of the New York State Constitutional Bench. She also served as the administrative judge for civil matters in the Second Judicial District, was elected and re-elected to the New York State Supreme Court, and served as a judge in New York City’s civil and criminal courts. As a seasoned jurist, she handled matters spanning various practice areas across many industries, including appellate, bankruptcy, complex business and commercial, employment and labor, family law, governmental/public agency, personal injury, professional liability, and real estate (including foreclosure and landlord-tenant). Judge Hinds-Radix began her legal career with District Council 37, one of the city’s largest public employee unions. Her roles within the union included chief counsel for the Immigration Program, which she founded; supervising attorney for the Landlord and Tenant Division; and senior attorney in the Consumer Litigation and Bankruptcy unit.

Judge Dale Fong-Frederick was appointed to the Criminal Court in October 2022. He received his bachelor’s degree from Queens College, CUNY, and his law degree from Hofstra University, School of Law. Judge Fong-Frederick began his legal career with The Legal Aid Society, Queens County Criminal Defense Division, before moving to New York County Defender Services. He was also a former solo practitioner, Principal Law Clerk, and, prior to his appointment to the bench, he served as a Court Attorney-Referee in Kings County Surrogate’s Court. He was appointed in October 2022 and reappointed in January 2023.

Justice Karen Gopee made history twice by her election to the New York State Supreme Court in 2021 and her appointment to the New York State Criminal Court in 2015, as the first Indo-Caribbean jurist in New York State. Currently, she presides over hearings and trials in a busy Gun Part in Queens. Prior to her election, she served as the presiding Criminal Court judge over the Youth Part, Domestic Violence Part, and Specialty Felony Waiver Part.

Michelle A. Johnson began her career as a Kings County assistant district attorney (1992-2003), serving as senior ADA in the Homicide Bureau, Deputy Bureau Chief of a felony trial unit, and Executive ADA of the School Crimes Bureau. She then served as Supervisory General Attorney at the U.S. Department of Education's New York Office for Civil Rights (2003-2006) and ran her own firm, The Armstrong Law Firm, PLLC, from 2006. Appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she served as an Interim Civil Court Judge in 2011 and 2012, then as a New York City Criminal Court Judge from 2013 to 2020. Since January 2021, she has been a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, 11th Judicial District. In January 2016, she was appointed Acting Justice of the Supreme Court and Supervising Judge of the Queens County Criminal Court, responsible for the administrative operation of the court and its fourteen judges. She has written over 100 decisions, over 15 of which have been published or accepted for publication.

Judge Haniff has served on the New York County Criminal Court since April 2024, handling every criminal court part, including Part N, which handles all Supreme Court felony pleas by way of SCIs. He previously served as a Kings County Criminal Court judge (December 2021-April 2024), presiding over hearings and decisions relating to new areas of law such as the 2019 discovery reforms. At the Queens District Attorney's Office, he was Supervising Attorney of the Criminal Court Bureau, Part AP-2 (2017-2021), supervising approximately fifty ADAs. He also served as an ADA in the Domestic Violence Bureau (2014-2017), where he handled primarily attempted murders and first-degree assaults, and in the Criminal Court Bureau (2013-2014). From 2005 to 2013, he ran a criminal defense practice that handled felony cases, including 18B appointments and high-profile murder cases, and tried over twenty-five felony trials. He began his career as a Queens ADA (2001-2005). He is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School (JD, 2001) and St. John's University (BS, 1997) and was admitted to the New York State Bar in November 2001.

Justice Dena E. Douglas is in her eighteenth year as a jurist. A graduate of St. John's University School of Law, she was elected to the NYS Civil Court in 2007 and to the Supreme Court in 2021. She was assigned to the Criminal Court and elevated by the Chief Judge to the Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, where she presides over all aspects of major trials, including homicides and complex gang crimes. Before her election, she served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County, where she prosecuted dozens of high-profile homicides and major offenses and was Deputy Bureau Chief of the Domestic Violence and Homicide Bureaus. She was then recruited by the U.S. Department of Justice, where she prosecuted complex federal domestic and international terrorism cases. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Judicial Friends Organization and on the Kings County Court Gender Fairness Committee.

Kenneth Montgomery has led his own firm, specializing in federal, capital, and state criminal defense, since 2001. He is a CJA panel member in the S.D.N.Y. and E.D.N.Y. and has litigated over 72 felony jury trials to verdict. From 1997 to 2001, he was a Kings County Assistant District Attorney in the Gang Bureau, prosecuting violent felonies including homicide and robbery. He is an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Fordham University School of Law and teaches at Brooklyn College. He earned his JD from Fordham University School of Law (1997) and his BA from Hampton University (1994).