UNITED STATES-Guyanese American jurist runs for elected judgeship in NY.

NEW YORK, CMC – The Guyanese-American jurist, Justice Claudia Daniels-DePeyster, is seeking election to the Supreme Court Justice in Kings County (Brooklyn) in New York, after acting in the past for several years.

Justice Daniels-DePeyster was appointed as a judge by former New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio 10 years ago and was elevated to the position of Acting Supreme Court Justice three years ago, based on her work performance in Kings County Criminal Court.

“I decided to run for office to become an elected official because I wanted the community to know the work that I am doing on their behalf,” Justice Daniels-DePeyster told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“I thought it was important to get out in the community, visit churches of different denominations, visit senior centers and let the public put a face to the name, as they vote for judges in Brooklyn,” she added.

Justice Daniels-DePeyster, who is “proud” of her Guyanese-Caribbean heritage, said “there is accountability to the community” in the position of an elected Supreme Court Justice.

“In addition, if I were to seek an appellate judge position in the future, I could only do so as an elected judge, not an appointed one,” she said.

As an elected judge, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she gets a 14-year-term and either a secretary or a junior court attorney to work alongside her.

“This will assist me in doing my job, writing decisions and being as productive as possible on the bench,” she said, stating that appointed judges fill the terms of judges who either retired or moved up.

“They do the same work as elected judges in civil or criminal court,” added Justice Daniels-DePeyster, disclosing that she had a two-year-term, then received a full 10-year-term as an appointed judge.

“You can serve from six months to 10 years. The problem is: appointed judges can’t move up. They don’t get a secretary or an additional junior court attorney as elected judges do. Also, elected judges get a 14-year-term. Appointed judges can also be removed without notice or a hearing.”

In sentencing individuals, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she usually writes them a letter.

“It encourages them, and I have received feedback from defendants, attorneys and family that my words are inspirational,” she said, disclosing that the letter has also “sparked the Office of Court Administration to host a therapeutic jurisprudence conference at Brooklyn Law School next month, where she will be one of the panelists.

“I believe that all courts can be a place for treatment and therapy,” she said, adding that she has “seen the law from all sides.”

Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she was born and raised in Brooklyn to “two proud Guyanese parents” She is a graduate of Midwood High School in Brooklyn, and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo in New York and her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

As a testament to her diverse and comprehensive legal background, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said Mavor De Blasio appointed her to serve as a Criminal Court Judge in April 2015.

Justice Daniels-DePeyster said “standing up for others” as a litigator equipped her with “the crucial insight that can only be gained by seeing the law from both sides of the bench, from defending tenants facing eviction, to defending people accused of crimes,” to immersing herself in family law work.

Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she learned early in her career “the tremendous gravity often connected to most cases heard by our courts.” From 2001 through 2015, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she worked in several capacities for the New York Police Department (NYPD)

Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she is currently a board member of the Judicial Friends Association, where she co-chairs the Community Service Committee. She is also a board member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and member of the National Bar Association-Judicial Council, where she chairs the Community Outreach Committee.

Her other affiliations include memberships in the National Association of Women Judges and the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) Women Judges Committee.