Hon. Charles J. Siragusa

1997 – present 

Federal Judicial Service: 

  • Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York 
  • Nominated by President William J. Clinton on July 15, 1997, to a seat vacated by Hon. Michael A. Telesca.  Confirmed by the Senate on October 30, 1997, and received commission on November 5, 1997.  Assumed senior status on December 15, 2012. 

Education: 

  • Albany Law School, J.D., 1976 
  • LeMoyne College, B.A., 1976 

Professional Career: 

  • Justice, New York State Supreme Court, Seventh Judicial District, 1993-1997 
  • Assistant District Attorney, Monroe County, New York, 1977-1992 

Noteworthy cases: 

Galloway v. Town of Greece, et al., No. 6:08-CV-06088: 

Residents brought a civil rights action against the Town of Greece, alleging that the town’s practice of opening town board meetings with prayer violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.  Judge Siragusa granted summary judgment in favor of the town, finding that the practice did not violate the Establishment Clause.  The residents appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, reversed.  Certiorari was granted.  The United States Supreme Court overruled the Second Circuit and found that the town did not violate the First Amendment by opening town board meetings with prayer that comported with tradition of the United States. 

Galloway v. Town of Greece, 732 F. Supp. 2d 195, 197 (W.D.N.Y. 2010), rev’d, 681 F.3d 20 (2d Cir. 2012), rev’d sub nom. Town of Greece, N.Y. v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565, 134 S. Ct. 1811, 188 L. Ed. 2d 835 (2014).
https://casetext.com/case/galloway-v-town-of-greece-2 

 

 

United States v. Richard Leon Wilbern, No. 6:17-CR-06017: 

On August 12, 2003, an individual walked into Xerox Federal Credit Union, located on the Xerox Corporation campus in Webster, NY.  In the course of committing a robbery, the individual then shot customer Raymond Batzel in the neck, resulting in his death.  A second customer, Joseph Doud, was shot and wounded as he attempted to run outside after witnessing the shooting.  The assailant subsequently fled the credit union with a bag of money but left behind an umbrella.  In March 2016, with a suspect still not in custody, a press conference was held seeking new leads in the investigation.  On March 27, 2016, a concerned citizen contacted the FBI and indicated that the person who committed the crime was likely a former Xerox employee named Richard Wilbern, who had been fired by Xerox prior to the robbery.  In July 2016, FBI agents met with Wilbern about a complaint he had made to the FBI regarding an alleged real estate scam.  During one of their meetings, agents obtained a DNA sample from Wilbern after he licked and sealed an envelope.  That DNA was compared to DNA taken from the umbrella left behind by the suspect the day of the robbery and was determined to be a positive match.  Wilbern was convicted by a jury of robbery resulting in the death of Mr. Batzel and sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment. 

 

 

United States v. Michael Jackson, Russell Hampton, and Dearick Smith, No. 6:09-CR-06064: 

Prior to approximately 2009, the “Chain Gang” aka “Wolfpack,” operated in Rochester, N.Y., as a violent street gang, the members of which sold narcotics and committed violence principally in the areas of Chamberlain and Garson Avenues.  A federal RICO indictment charged 19 gang members with conspiring to use their membership in the Chain Gang to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity that included multiple acts of violence and drug trafficking, including the 2007 murder of Carmella Rogers and the attempted murder of several rival gang members.  Jackson, Hampton, and Smith were convicted in July 2011, after a five week jury trial.  All other Chain Gang defendants were also convicted in other proceedings.