The Untouchable Robe: How Judge Susan Capeci’s Decisions Have Harmed Families, Sparked Outrage, and Escaped Accountability
In the courtroom of Westchester County’s Judge Susan M. Capeci, one theme has emerged again and again: justice bends toward power, silence shrouds misconduct, and those who cry out for help often end up punished.
Judge Capeci, a former prosecutor turned IDV (Integrated Domestic Violence) Court judge, has developed a reputation among attorneys, litigants, and advocacy organizations for rulings that appear not only biased, but at times dangerous. While her defenders in the system maintain her judicial record is within the bounds of law, critics—including appellate courts, parents, and even former prosecutors—point to a disturbing pattern: children removed from protective parents, disabled litigants stripped of rights, and exculpatory evidence routinely shut down.
A Pattern of Prejudice and Judicial Error
Capeci’s record is not without formal rebuke. In People v. Bradley, 99 A.D.3d 934 (2d Dep’t 2012), the Appellate Division reversed a conviction due to her actions, stating she “improperly precluded the defendant from adducing testimony,” and that this denial of exculpatory evidence deprived the defendant of a fair trial. In another case, People v. Brown, the court sharply criticized a related judicial act that undermined the defendant's rights—suggesting a systemic failure in similar courtrooms.
While a single reversal could be seen as judicial oversight, a pattern of complaints emerges from litigants and attorneys alike. Marc Fishman, a disabled father profiled on Medium, was cut off from his children based on a false arrest that Capeci used to strip his visitation rights—without due process and despite his documented disabilities under the ADA. Even after the arrest was proven baseless, Capeci failed to restore his rights, a move some see as emblematic of her courtroom: swift to punish, slow—or unwilling—to correct.
The Case That Broke a Lawyer
In June 2025, Judge Capeci’s conduct in a high-conflict domestic violence case led to an explosive and chilling outcome: Yonkers attorney Nicholas Leo was arrested after sending her a string of threatening text messages. The messages—violent, graphic, and now the basis of a felony indictment—were sent after Judge Capeci allegedly ignored evidence, dismissed concerns, and gave decisions that one source claimed, “put lives in danger.” While Leo’s actions are indefensible, the underlying catalyst raises serious questions: what level of judicial overreach or disregard compels an officer of the court to snap?
As one attorney wrote anonymously on The Robing Room, “She picks and chooses who she likes and who she doesn’t. Once she gets slanted against your client, you are done.”
Kassenoff v. Kassenoff: A Conflict Ignored
A newly unearthed email (included above) reveals that Judge Capeci presided over the now-infamous Kassenoff v. Kassenoff case despite glaring conflicts of interest. Christine Paska, an associate of Ms. Kassenoff’s legal team, had just weeks earlier worked as a prosecutor in the same DA’s office that brought—and then dropped—charges against the opposing party.
Judge Capeci herself admitted in the September 2, 2022 email that the conflict was “of grave concern to the Court,” yet she allowed the case to continue, merely offering the chance for a supplemental motion. In a court where protective mothers, like Catherine Kassenoff, were already under extreme pressure, this breach of protocol only added to the sense of institutional betrayal.
Shielded by the System
Despite a growing trail of damaged lives and court rulings flagged for bias, Capeci has remained untouched by oversight. Robert Tembeckjian, Administrator of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, has been widely criticized for protecting judges like Capeci from meaningful consequences. As explored in The Untouchable (Substack, Corrupt Queens Court), Tembeckjian’s commission rarely removes judges—even those found to have repeatedly violated constitutional standards.
Public watchdog sites like Scrutinize.org have documented how Capeci has been strategically reassigned to courts like IDV, where oversight is murkier and appeals are more difficult. A 2009 blog post alleged inappropriate ex parte communications and political favoritism.
And perhaps most chillingly, Capeci made headlines when she ruled that simply tagging someone on Facebook constituted a violation of a restraining order—even without direct communication—expanding the reach of judicial censorship in the digital age.
The Real Cost: Families, Freedom, and Justice
The harm attributed to Judge Capeci’s courtroom decisions is not abstract. It is measured in years lost between parents and children, in court orders that silence abuse victims, in criminal defendants denied a fair trial, and in lawyers pushed to their breaking point. The consequences ripple far beyond her bench.
The public deserves more than silence. It deserves accountability.
This is the main reason FEMALE judges should not be sitting in the family courts or domestic violence courts. They rule by emotion, and not by the facts or the law. Any judge who does this is a candidate for impeachment.
I say this to "Judge" Capeci, everywhere you go, you better be looking over your shoulder. Men in general and fathers, specifically, will be watching you wherever you are. It won't surprise me if Judge Capeci is not confronted with extreme prejudice. Fathers/Men have done enough talking and mediating. Judges like this are drunk with power and need to be removed by any means necessary. If the courts' judicial conduct commissions won't do it, then impeachment is the next step. If the legislatures, who are the arm of the people, won't do it, it is up to the people to remove judges like this. Tarring and Feathering a judge like this in the public square is not enough of a punishment and humiliation for these judges. A judge who violates the rights of the taxpayers who pay her salary, must be immediately removed, all of her assets given over to those whose fundamentally secured rights she violated, her salary immediately revoked, and her entire judicial pension be rescinded and terminated, or given to those whose rights she violated and caused egregious harm against.
As a mother, I read this article with a heavy heart because my own daughter is living this same nightmare in New Jersey.
In her ongoing divorce and custody case, she has faced judicial decisions that defy reason and basic human rights. Despite clear evidence of misconduct, bias, and repeated denials of ADA accommodations, the court has turned a blind eye. Like the accounts described in Judge Capeci’s courtroom, my daughter who is disabled and a protective parent has been silenced, marginalized, and punished for simply trying to protect her child.
We’ve seen firsthand:
Judges disregard jurisdictional laws like the UCCJEA to rush trials.
Court-appointed “experts” with ties to the opposing party allowed to testify without consent.
ADA requests for remote appearances and other accommodations denied, even when supported by medical documentation.
Decisions that prioritize power and appearance over truth and the safety of a child.
This is not just a New York problem. It is a systemic family court crisis playing out in courtrooms across the country one where vulnerable parents, especially women and the disabled, are being crushed by a legal machine that was meant to protect them.
Thank you for shining a light on this pattern. Families like mine need journalists, advocates, and lawmakers to pay attention and take action before more lives are shattered behind closed doors.
Renee Kitani
Mother & Advocate