On Bronx Supreme Court Justice Naita Semaj’s push for elevation to the Appellate Division, First Department, we have two words: Hell no!
Yet someone in the Bronx Democratic Party is trying to fast-track her career.
Though first elected to the Civil Court bench only in 2019, she got tapped for election to a 14-year state Supreme Court term in November 2021. She was also somehow selected last July for transfer from the Bronx Supreme Court’s Youth Part to the borough’s “gun court” — a specialized court that exclusively handles gun cases.
As a criminal-court judge, she’s made multiple controversial rulings setting accused killers loose back onto Bronx streets, while showing strong distrust of police and shocking disregard for crime vicitms.
- Two weeks ago, Judge Semaj infamously ripped a grieving mom in court before letting the woman’s teen son’s accused killer, ex-con Tyresse Minter, free without bail.
- In April 2022, she enraged the family of 21-year-old Saikou Koma when she cut loose his alleged killer, Bronx gangbanger Steven Mendez, on a technicality, ruling that an NYPD detective’s “problematic” testimony had prejudiced the grand jury.
- The month before, she enraged cops and Mayor Eric Adams when she ruled that 16-year-old drill rapper Camrin Williams (a k a C Blu) — accused of shooting a cop during a tussle — would be tried in Family Court because in her opinion cops had no reason to search him in the first place and she found their testimony not credible. After her ruling, the city Law Department decided to drop the case against Williams.
- In February 2022, she cut loose two teen criminals — including one charged with murder — over the objections of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Judge Naita Semaj was selected in July 2022 for transfer from the Bronx Supreme Court’s Youth Part to the borough’s “gun court.” YouTube/BronxNetOn top of all this, The Post has learned that Semaj is under investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct for tossing a prosecutor out of her court in a hearing involving a 17-year-old gangbanger charged with a shooting in a cell phone store.
Semaj allegedly went into a rage from the bench, claiming the teen suspect fired shots in self-defense and ordered the prosecutor never to appear in front of her again.
Yet she wants to take her antics to the next level — the Appellate Division.
The state Commission on Judicial Conduct opened a probe into Semaj after the judge ejected Ilya Kharkover (pictured), a deputy chief in the Bronx DA’ office, from her courtroom. Arellano, JuanAs Queens ex-prosecutor Jim Quinn told The Post: “There’s no way the governor can nominate her as a presiding justice. She would damage all credibility.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul should dismiss Judge Semaj’s bid for a promotion without hesitation, if the judicial screening panel doesn’t do so first.
Sadly, Semaj is exactly the kind of pro-defendant, anti-law-enforcment jurist that progressives want on every bench in the state.
The future of public safety in New York literally hangs in the balance.
