Letter to the editor — Thursday, Sept. 11

Call to elect Kara Gerry to County judge seat

I urge voters to elect Kara Gerry Dutchess County Court Judge. Kara’s career — as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer — makes her particularly well-suited to this position. The fact that she has worked on both sides of the criminal justice system gives her a clear and thorough appreciation of fairness and practicality in criminal cases. As Kara has said, “[a]s both a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I’ve witnessed the devastating impact of crime and the critical importance of fairness and respecting constitutional rights in our courts.”

Kara’s opponent, current Dutchess County Judge Edward T. McLoughlin, whose prior experience has been only as a prosecutor, clearly lacks the ability and thoughtfulness to handle criminal cases responsibly. In a case involving the sentencing of a woman who killed her horrifically abusive partner, an appellate court found that Judge McLoughlin used incorrect “methodology, approach and application” of a statute that was intended to take the abuse of the woman into consideration when sentencing her for a crime against her domestic partner.

Nicole Addimando, who had no criminal history, shot and killed her domestic partner after he threatened to kill her, capping years of documented extreme physical and sexual abuse that included rape, strangulation, repeated beatings and burns to her breasts and genitals (Ms. Addimando’s midwife testified that on the three times that she examined her she had a “hard time looking” at Ms. Addimando’s injuries). Despite compelling evidence of the abuse, Judge McLoughlin, shockingly, found an ”undetermined abusive history” — a finding that the appellate court soundly rejected. The appellate court also rejected Judge McLauglin’s finding that Ms. Addimando could have defended herself by simply leaving the apartment. The appellate court noted that such thinking was based on “antiquated impressions of how domestic violence survivors should behave” and that Judge McLoughlin’s approach “simply runs afoul of the spirit and intent of the statute” that was intended to prevent harsh punishment of women who commit crimes against their abusers.

Judge McLoughlin sentenced Ms. Addimando to 19 years to life in prison, a sentence that the appellate court found “frustrate[d] that legislative intent by applying outdated notions regarding domestic violence issues.” The appellate court reduced the sentence to 7 ½ years.

In violating the sentencing statute, Judge McLoughlin demonstrated not only a misunderstanding of the law, but an unrealistic and callous attitude toward an abused woman.

It is time for Judge McLoughlin to lose his judgeship and make way for Kara Gerry, whose work as an Assistant District Attorney and as a Public Defender gives her the breadth of perspective we need in our judges.

Amy Rothstein
Pine Plains