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Potsdam judge hopeful Charleson cites 12+ years on bench as election approaches

Posted 11/1/18

By MATT LINDSEY North Country Now POTSDAM -- Samuel Charleson, incumbent for the Potsdam town justice position, is seeking his fourth term and says his experience allows him to relate to all that …

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Potsdam judge hopeful Charleson cites 12+ years on bench as election approaches

Posted

By MATT LINDSEY
North Country Now

POTSDAM -- Samuel Charleson, incumbent for the Potsdam town justice position, is seeking his fourth term and says his experience allows him to relate to all that appear before him.

“My strengths include 12-plus years as town justice in Potsdam and a total of over 23 years working in the criminal justice realm as a county corrections officer, a SUNY police officer and as a St. Lawrence County Sheriff deputy,” Charleson said. “I've worked in the correctional facility. I've worked with the youth that are our university population. I've worked every mile of highway in our county as a road deputy.”

He says he has “extensive experience” dealing with defendants, defense attorneys, the district attorney's office, the Potsdam Town Board and their staff.

“This allows for a much smoother flow within the courtroom and is most beneficial to defendants as they work through their cases,” Charleson said. “I've run a courtroom for 12 years. I've conducted thousands of arraignments on felony, misdemeanor and violation level offences. I have held hundreds of non-jury trials and several jury trials as well as hundreds of civil proceedings.”

Charleson said he has all the training needed for the positions and completes it annually.

“I have the training that is mandated by (New York State) that educates and guides justices in every aspect of the profession,” he said. “This is not, ‘police officer’ training -- it is training to be a member of the judiciary. The two are very different.”

Asked what the biggest challenge facing Potsdam Town Court is, Charleson said, “a challenge for Potsdam Town Court, as for most other courts in our county and state is the overwhelming increase is handling matters evolving from our drug epidemic.” This burden is not exclusive to the courtrooms. Most if not all of us as citizens have been touched at some point in our lives by one type of terminal illness or another; be it a family member, a close friend etc. We can all relate to that.”

He added that, “unfortunately that same terrible feeling is being endured by more and more of our population on a regular basis in regards to our drug epidemic. Our system and my courtroom are working to evolve along with this community issue.”

Charleson was asked what separates him from his opponent.

“Experience, flat out. I have it,” he said. My opponent does not. I have a compassion and desire to serve the Potsdam community with integrity. I've received letters of support from professional people and organizations.

Charleson helped secure nearly $40,000 in grant funding from the NYS JCAP program to make Potsdam’s courtroom a safer facility with cameras, monitors, keypad locks, magnatometers - both handheld and stationary.

“We have submitted a request this year totaling over $27,000,” he said. “All of this is done at no expense to the taxpayer. There is no requirement to apply and not every court does it. We do.”

If re-elected, Charleson will, “continue to do what I do every day to benefit the Potsdam court system.”

“We have absorbed the caseload inherited as the village court closed through dissolution. We've handled several thousand cases that were sent to us from the closing. Remember, this occurred while we instantly began receiving all cases within the village, which virtually doubled our caseload. The Village of Potsdam employed two full-time clerks to handle the workload within the courtroom. We have handled the increase as well as worked through the backload with 1 additional full time position. A substantial savings to the taxpayers relative to adding 2 positions,” he said.

He said Potsdam Town Court leads the way in St. Lawrence County in the 2017 report with over $415,000 collected. “We handle thousands of cases annually. The court next on the list is at $229,000. It's not because the judges in Potsdam hand out stiffer penalties - it's because we handle that much more volume. “