Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano announced at city hall on Nov. 15 that he had appointed private attorney Theresa Cayton to the soon-to-be-vacated city judgeship.
Current City Judge Richard Guertin was elected to Orange County Court in early November.
“When I appointed Rich to the assistant judgeship, it was an easy decision for me because I knew Rich, and I knew his commitment to our city. This time is a little bit different,” Mr. DeStefano said, citing the rules changes in appointment procedures and judge term lengths.
“It is a lot of responsibility to put on my shoulder to make sure that we get it right, and I felt that rather than me doing the vetting—I really don’t have the experience or the knowledge to interview judicial candidates—I would rather lean on a judge friend, Bill DeProspo,” he said.
Mr. DeProspo served on the county court for five years before his resignation in March to resolve misconduct charges brought by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
“He did a lot of work for us, put a lot of time into it, and did come down to the recommendation of someone who we all feel is very qualified and will do a great job for the city,” Mr. DeStefano said.
Mr. DeProspo said that among the half dozen or so exceptionally qualified candidates, Ms. Cayton stood out for her common sense and personal knowledge of the City of Middletown.
Ms. Cayton was born and raised in Orange County; her father was a truck driver, and her mother worked for the American Red Cross.
Her parents always thought she was law-bound, as Ms. Cayton liked debating and negotiations as a child, though they did not push her to do anything she was not ready for, she said.
After high school, Ms. Cayton worked in retail and at an auto shop before pursuing a criminal justice degree at SUNY Orange and then a degree in humanities and justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
After graduating from Albany Law School in 2014, Ms. Cayton started working as an assistant district attorney in Orange County, often appearing at Middletown City Court for misdemeanor charges before moving on to more complicated felony cases.
At the beginning of 2018, she joined the well-respected Larkin Ingrassia law firm, working under John Ingrassia and the late Bill Larkin for five years before becoming a partner.
Several former partners at the law firm moved on to judgeships, including current Newburgh City Court Judge Paul Trachte, current County Court Judge Craig Brown, and past Supreme Court Justice of the 9th Judicial District Angelo Ingrassia.
“I am truly humbled to be appointed as one of the City of Middletown judges,” Ms. Cayton said. “It is my intention to serve the city of Middletown and to treat every person and every litigant that appears before me with dignity and respect.”
Mr. DeStefano thanked Judge Guertin for over two decades of city service and wished him well.
“It is an exciting day, not only for me in that I am moving up to county court—and I am very thankful and blessed to be able to do that—but also to welcome the newest addition to the city court, Theresa Cayton,” Judge Guertin said.
“The City Court is a great court. It really is the People’s Court,” he said. “We do all sorts of things in city court, landlord-tenant disputes, small claims civil cases, criminal matters, traffic, city codes, and quality of life issues. We never lose touch with people.”
Mr. DeProspo agreed.
“The city courts are really the courts that are closest to the people,” he said. “Not that the Supreme Court or the County Court are out of touch with the people—they would like to be in touch with everybody—but certainly on a day-to-day basis, to be able to affect in a positive way the quality of life in the city, or the town, or village, that happens at the city court level.
“And I know soon-to-be Judge Cayton is going to do a great job.”
