The Catskill Chronicle

Kane said that under the “steady guidance” of their mother, his brother was the first in a large Hungarian/Irish family to earn a college degree, and Judge Kane was the first to attend graduate school.

After deciding that a career in economics wasn’t his cup of tea, Kane took the Law School Admission Tests (LSATs) “and by some twist of fate I did well on them” and after graduating from Iona College “by another strange twist of fate” was admitted to Cornell Law School.

“When I graduated in 1969, there was a lot of social movement, social unrest going on at that time…[and I decided} I wanted to do some kind of public service law.”

Upon learning there was an opening as a legal services attorney in Sullivan County, Kane and his wife Nancy packed up a few boxes of law books, moved to Liberty.

He started working for Nat Hand while she landed a teaching job at Eldred Central School. The couple eventually settled in Forestburgh where they have  lived for the last 35 years, along the way raising their two sons Mathew and Timothy.

Later as a public defender, Kane worked alongside Ira Cohen and Gary Greenwald. He then joined the law firm run by Steve Oppenheim and Ted Drew, which later became Oppenheim, Drew and Kane, but in 1980 went out on his own as a private practice attorney, also serving as legal counsel for the Town
of Forestburgh.

An original election campaign flyer from when Attorney-At-Law Anthony Kane ran for Sullivan County Family Court Judge.

In 1984, Kane tossed his hat into the political arena in a bid for Sullivan County Family Court Judge, got elected and took the bench in 1985.

“We didn’t have a clue what we were doing, we did it on a shoe string, and made our signs in the driveway with the help of our neighbors,” he recalled of his first campaign.

Sullivan County Family Judge Anthony T. Kane hands down a ruling(photo ca. 1991, collection of Judge Kane).

“Family Court is a place where you really had the potential to impact, for good or ill, a person’s life…[and] I think I did a lot more good than ill, but nobody’s infallible…it’s a place where you have to take job satisfaction in little improvements, because human nature will strenuously resist change.”

Judge Kane said his time on the family court bench eventually wore him out because of the never-ending volume of cases, he said, “Some days it felt was like shoveling sand. After seven years, I was spent from the constancy of it.”

Proud of the fact that he did his work in the courtroom rather than in chambers with lawyers, and subsequently wrote his own decisions, Judge Kane said it was because “I wanted people to hear what I heard…the litigants might think I was wrong, but at least they knew why I decided what I did, what my reasoning was.”

An original campaign flyer from when Family Court Judge Kane ran for Sullivan County Court Judge.

In 1992, Judge Kane was elected as Sullivan County Judge and Surrogate, and four years later was elected to the Sullivan County Supreme Court, serving as the resident Supreme Court Justice from January 1996 until appointed by the governor to serve as a justice in the Appellate Division.

As county court judge, he presided over numerous felony criminal cases, and the one Judge Kane remembers most vividly was the Anthony Burton murder trial of 1992, in which the defendant was charged with brutally slaying an elderly Hassidic couple, and sentenced to 66 years to life in prison.

“It was a robbery gone sour, the guy murdered them with a hammer…it was a horrendous crime…It was the first case [in the county] where we dealt with DNA as a scientific method of identification, it was prosecuted by Steve Lungen, and he [Burton] was found guilty of all charges.

Sullivan County DA Stephen F. Lungen recently announced he was stepping down as the county’s lead prosecutor in the wake of 28 years service to the law.

Anthony T. Kane, Steven Lungen, NYS Senator Charles Cooke at a fund-raising dinner (photo ca. 1984, collection of Judge Kane).

“I don’t think I’ve ever had an attorney that was more prepared than Steve Lungen,” said Judge Kane. “He knows where he’s going from beginning to end, and how he’s going to get there…He’s not the easiest guy to try a case with because he has his road map, he’s very tenacious, [and] it’s hard to put detours in there. The county has been very well served by Steve Lungen as District Attorney.”

Asked what it was like to weigh the dark side of humanity against the light of redemption, Judge Kane replied that a judge’s objective is “not to lock everybody away, your object is to try to rehabilitate the person if you can and at the same time impose consequences for the conduct that took place…[but] probably there are some people who have precious little redeeming value.”

Is society going to hell in a hand basket?“I don’t think so, I have hope for society,” replied Judge Kane. “Some people look at Broadway and see a disaster out there, I look at it and see incredible potential.”

Judge Kane said Judge Robert Williams, his predecessor on the county’s supreme court was ”a fine example to follow as far as the law and work ethic, he always tried to get it right.”

The Justices of the Appellate Division, Third Department: Left to right (sitting): Justices Karen K. Peters, Thomas E. Mercure, Presiding Justice Anthony V. Cardona, Justices D. Bruce Crew III and Edward O. Spain;(standing), Justices John A. Lahtinen, Carl J, Mugglin, Anthony J. Carpinello, Robert S. Rose and Anthony T. Kane (photo provided).

When Judge Kane was appointed to the Appellate Division, he was one of ten justices, and now there a total of 12 justices, who hear cases before the court in rotating panels to share the workload.

“We work very hard to get it right, and to have that level of discussion of the law is a treat, it’s whipped cream to put on the cake.”

Judge Kane said folks often ask him what it’s like to work for Judge Anthony V. Cardona, the presiding justice on the Appellate Division’s 3rd Department.

“I say he reminds me of my mother,” said Judge Kane. “Everybody has to sit down and have something to eat, and nobody can go to bed mad…the atmosphere in the court is cooperation, not antagonism, which is not always the case in appellate courts.”

“I love going up to Albany and being part of the decision making process, part of the conferencing of these cases.”

When Judge Kane shows up for his last day at work on December 31, 2009 he will be leaving behind a couple of hard working allies of the law, Denise S. Ratner, his confidential secretary and Matthew P. Side, his principal law clerk.

A dynamic trio: Matthew P. Side, principal law clerk, Judge Anthony T, Kane, Denise S. Ratner, confidential secretary.

“I first met Denise when I was in private practice, and she’s been with me ever since Family Court,” said Judge Kane. “I couldn’t ask for a better secretary or a friend, she corrects my prose and spelling, and runs interference for me in the outer office.”

Side came to work for Judge Kane a few months after the judge was appointed to the Appellate Division.“I couldn’t have done this without him,” said Judge Kane. “He’s very smart, a very quick read, and a very good writer.”

What’s next for Judge Kane?

“I’m going to see what retirement is like,” he replied, adding that based on a few mistakes he made as a youth, the lessons learned from those wayward experiences could be put to good use by serving as a mentor in local high schools, helping kids get on the right track.

Periodically, the NYS Appellate Division, Third Department publishes a guide to the court and profiles of the judges, with much of the photography done by Robert Mayberger (photo provided).

Although Judge Kane was assured the statute of limitations had expired long ago, he declined to elaborate other than say, “I grew up in a blue collar environment and I got into my share of mischief…thank goodness I ran into a professor in college that recognized some intellectual worth in me and he made a difference.”

Judge Kane’s take on the law?

“The law is a problem solving tool…and if you know the rules, it makes an awful lot of sense. If we diminish the law, we diminish society.”

Everyone deserves a good retirement party, and Judge Kane was no exception to the rules of law governing sendoffs.

On October 22, 450-some folks including his family, the local DA and soon to be ex-boss at the appellate court showed up at the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center to honor his years of dedicated service to the community and the law.

A few weeks from now, Judge Kane will hang up his judicial robes for the last time, and perhaps look out on the courthouse lawn graced with several new trees he was instrumental in having planted for future generations.

What about his legacy after 25 years of public service?

“I don’t think of myself as a legacy person, but if the general view is that I worked hard to help people, that would be great, that would be plenty.”

To view more photos from Judge Kane Hangs Up His Robes visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.