Five District Court judges to be appointed Monday (Updated with corrected resolutions)

                                                                   


                                                                      
Five new Nassau District Court Judges are expected to be appointed to the bench on Monday.

Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman has sent the nominations of two Democrats and three Republicans to the county legislature to fill vacancies on Nassau's district bench.

It is expected that the county legislature will vote in an emergency Monday to confirm their interim appointments to serve as district court judges through the November elections.

District Court is the lowest level in Nassau's court system. District court judges decide civil complaints seeking damages up to $15,000, small claims cases up to $5,000 and landlord and tenant disputes. They oversee criminal cases involving misdemeanors, violations, infractions and traffic tickets charging a crime.

All but one had been cross-endorsed last spring for district court and all five are expected to run with cross-endorsement this November.

The new name on the list is Michael Montesano.

Michael Montesano


A Republican state assemblyman from Glen Cove since 2010, Montesano is being appointed to the Fourth District Court, which covers Glen Cove and Oyster Bay.

His resume says he is the minority whip in the Democratic-majority Assembly and is the ranking member in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

The other appointees are:

Jaclene Agazarian, of  Glen Head, who has been the principal law clerk for a Supreme Court Justice in Nassau's Matrimonial Center. She is married to Nassau Democratic Elections Commissioner Jim Scheuerman.

The resolution submitted to the legislature says Agazarian is being appointed to the 4th District Court, but she was originally cross-endorsed for the 1st District Court, which is countywide. (Blakeman's office indeed corrected the first submission to say that Agazarian is being appointed to the 1st District Court.)

 

Marie McCormack, of Westbury, is being appointed to the 3rd District court, which covers all of North Hempstead.  A Democrat, McCormack is a court referee in Nassau Supreme Court's matrimonial center. She is married to Nassau Supreme Court Justice James McCormack.

(Blakeman's office also submitted a corrected resolution, noting that McCormack is being appointed to the 2nd District Court.)

Norman A. Sammut of Wantagh, is being appointed to the 2nd District Court, which covers Hempstead and Long Beach. Sammut, a Republican, is an attorney in private practice in Garden City.


Joseph Nocella, a Republican from Seaford, also is being appointed to the 2nd District Court. A former federal prosecutor who served as town attorney for Oyster Bay, Nocella is the current town attorney for Hempstead.

There is no word yet on who will replace Nocella in Hempstead Town. Currently former Supreme court justice Jack Libert is chief of staff for Republican Supervisor Don Clavin.


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