ALBANY - The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has determined that Michael M. Feeder, a Justice of the Hudson Falls Village Court, Washington County, should be censured. Three Commission members voted for removal, which the Commission's Administrator had recommended.

In a determination dated November 18, 2009, the Commission found that Judge Feeder should be sanctioned for engaging in numerous acts of misconduct. In one instance, the judge confronted a motorist and identified himself as a judge, used his judicial power to cause the arrest of the motorist and commented publicly about the case while it was pending.

The judge also had an out-of-court conversation with a defendant’s mother who asked him not to sentence the defendant to jail, then sentenced the defendant according to the request; granted an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal in a case without the required consent of the prosecution; and presided over cases filed by members of the Hudson Falls Police Department without disclosing his close friendship with the Assistant Chief of Police, who in at least one case appeared before the judge personally.