Altona Town Court in Clinton County. Google Image

A town justice in New York state's North Country has resigned after he was found to have posted an image of a noose on social media with a caption that read, in capital letters: "If we want to make America great again, we will have to make evil people fear punishment again."

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct announced Tuesday that the justice resigned while under formal disciplinary charges.

Kyle Canning, a former justice of the Altona Town Court in Clinton County, shared the image on Facebook last February while he still held his judicial office, according to a court administrative report. Canning removed it six months later when he was contacted by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Canning, who is not an attorney, formally submitted his resignation in June to the town supervisor in Altona. In his resignation letter he said that he felt "coerced" into leaving the bench because of the image and appeared skeptical of how serious it was to the standards of judicial office.

"They have presented me with several different options in resolving what they claim to be a serious offense," Canning wrote of the commission's complaint. "I feel as though, due to my current financial situation and obligations to my family, I am being coerced into resigning."

Canning, who represented himself before the commission, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

He was served with a complaint by the commission in May over the Facebook post, which appeared on social media more than a year before his resignation.

The image was posted for public view without any comment from Canning. It showed a noose, with block letters superimposed over it. Robert Tembeckjian, administrator of the commission, said the photo had racial connotations that couldn't be ignored.

"The noose is an incendiary image with repugnant racial connotations. It is the very antithesis of law and justice," Tembeckjian said. "For a judge to use the image of the noose in making a political point undermines the integrity of the judiciary and public confidence in the courts."

Canning, who was elected as a Democrat, had been a justice of the Altona Town Court since 2018. His current term would have expired in 2021.

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