POUGHKEEPSIE – After learning of a complaint about them to their supervising judge, the two City of Poughkeepsie judges are recusing themselves from hearing any case in which the complainant attorney is involved. As a result, a “visiting judge” has been assigned to hear certain cases in Poughkeepsie City Court, along with the two original judges. Town of LaGrange Justice Susan Bisceglia-Sullivan will be hearing cases in which attorney represents a defendant in city court.
Timourian, a public defender, has encountered issues with city court judges, particularly Judge Scott Volkman, when making motions regarding mental health evaluations for certain defendants..
Timourian, who serves as assigned counsel for defendants, has previously filed a complaint with the Supervising Judge for City Courts in the Ninth Judicial District, allegedly claiming that she has made motions requesting “730 exams” which are conducted to determine a person’s mental competency, and Judge Volkman has denied every one.
In one instance, a client of Timourian’s was in custody at the Dutchess County Jail and the superintendent of the facility advised her that the defendant was acting erratically, playing with his feces, banging his head against the wall repeatedly, and even injured a corrections officer. Ms. Timourian advised the prosecutor in the case of the situation. The jail was not transporting the defendant to Volkman’s court because of his condition. Timourian, on the record in court, asked for a “730 exam”, noting that the prosecutor, the social worker from Dutchess County Probation, and the jail staff were all in agreement.
Despite being advised that the jail would not transport the defendant because of his condition, Volkman denied the request to order an exam, saying “Well, if they produced him today, I could have evaluated him myself and made that decision.” When Timourian continued to explain all of her reasons that warrant a 730 exam, Volkman tired of it and said “Enough conversation. I’m done talking about it.” He did agree to re-hear the application the following day.
On September 14, 2021, Timourian reiterated her previous arguments and said “We want to get him out of the jail and into an appropriate setting where he can be restored, hopefully, to at least being able to be spoken to.” Volkman was not willing to do so because the defendant was not in the courtroom, despite being advised that the corrections staff would not transport him due to his condition.
“I’m not going to get in the habit of ordering 730 exams just because people behave badly in jail,” Volkman said. The prosecutor, Melissa Pasquale also sided with Timourian, telling the judge “It isn’t a decision. It’s just an exam,” pointing out that the judge still would have the opportunity to decide the defendant’s competency after hearing from mental health professionals.
In a separate case, while being observed by a “court watcher”, Volkman denied another request for a 730 exam from a defense attorney. The defendant had also been in the jail and was acting out until he was given the appropriate psychiatric medications. His attorney told Judge Volkman that her client had intermittent delusions, was not always coherent, and had a psychiatric history. Volkman also denied a 730 exam despite evidence that warranted the test.
On Monday, in court, Judge Volkman told Timourian, who currently has several cases in city court, that both he and Judge Frank Mora were going to recuse themselves from hearing any of her cases, moving forward, and did so off the record. Volkman also denied Ms. Timourian’s request to put her objection to the ruling on the record.
Judges Volkman and Mora both indicated that they would check with the state to to determine if they are allowed to respond to the Mid-Hudson News requests for comment.
