Syracuse, NY -- The early retirement of Syracuse-based appellate judge Edward Carni next month will open a coveted seat next election on state Supreme Court -- the state’s highest trial court.
Carni, 61, of Manlius, isn’t the only countywide judge retiring this year: County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller, one of the four felony trial judges, is also retiring on Dec. 31, he confirmed to Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
Miller, 67, of Manlius, decided not to run again awhile ago for a new term that would have been cut short by the judicial system’s mandatory retirement age of 70. In Miller’s only 10-year term, he’s handled a slew of major cases, including the prosecution of murderer and rapist David Renz and the murder case against former DeWitt doctor Robert Neulander (going back for a retrial before Miller on Feb. 28).
There will be at least two candidates to replace Miller: Democrat Ted Limpert and Republican Melinda McGunnigle.
Both Onondaga County Court candidates come with experience: Limpert is a former Syracuse City Court judge who lost his bid for reelection in 2020. He’s also run unsuccessfully for state Supreme Court. McGunnigle is the county’s chief homicide prosecutor, a position she’s held since Matthew Doran left the district attorney’s office in 2016 to become a judge himself.
County Court handles felony criminal cases from across Onondaga County.
Carni’s retirement, official on Feb. 17, comes a little over six years into his second elected 14-year term on the state Supreme Court bench. Onondaga County GOP chair Benedicte Doran confirmed the judge’s plans Thursday to Syracuse.com.
While elected by voters in Onondaga and five surrounding counties, Carni has been seated on the appellate bench in Rochester since 2006. That means that he’s on a panel that hears appeals to criminal, civil and family court cases across a large swath of Upstate New York.
Carni’s replacement is extremely unlikely to be named to the appellate bench. Instead, the new judge will likely be assigned to handle civil cases, which can range from complex commercial disputes to slip-and-fall lawsuits.
Because Carni is leaving in the middle of his term, the governor can name a replacement. But typically, open seats on the state Supreme Court remain unfilled until the next election cycle.
Onondaga County Republicans will nominate Syracuse-based lawyer Kevin Kuehner to fill Carni’s seat, according to a news release Thursday. Democrats have not yet named a candidate, though the state Supreme Court nominating conventions aren’t until much later in the year.
State Supreme Court judges are elected by voters in a unique, six-county judicial district that includes Onondaga, Oneida, Oswego, Jefferson, Herkimer and Lewis counties. However, once elected, those judges are typically assigned to the bench in one of those counties. The political parties typically take the same approach, deferring to the county that is losing a judge to field new candidates.
In Onondaga County, voters will actually be asked to decide three state Supreme Court races in November: the Carni seat in Onondaga County, as well as two seats in Oneida County.
Republicans have announced they will nominate Little Falls City Court Judge Mark Rose for one of the Oneida County openings and Julie Grow Denton for the other.
Onondaga County Democrats are backing incumbent David Murad to keep his seat in Oneida County and do not have a candidate for the other open seat, left by the retirement of Judge Patrick MacRae, said party chairwoman Pamela Hunter.
Hunter said it was too early to know who might run for Carni’s position in Onondaga County following his early retirement.
Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.