Richard Miller II Removed

Richard Miller II, a former Broome County, New York Family Court judge, was removed from the bench by the New York Court of Appeals in October 2020 after the state Commission on Judicial Conduct found (7-2) that he made repeated sexist and demeaning statements to a court clerk, retaliated against another clerk who complained about him, and failed to properly disclose outside income. Separately, in August 2025, a federal jury ordered Miller to pay $200,000 in damages after finding he discriminated against his former court secretary, Rachelle Gallagher, based on her gender. The underlying lawsuit, filed in December 2018 by Gallagher and former court attorney Mark Kachadourian, alleged Miller created a "toxic environment" from 2015 to the summer of 2017 — showing pornography to employees against their will, repeatedly demanding that Gallagher satisfy his sexual needs, directing her to engage in sexual acts with an elected official to curry political favor, and threatening both employees with death and physical injury if they betrayed him. Miller's post-trial motion to overturn the judgment was denied by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York on December 30, 2025.