[Editors note: Welcome to the amNew York Law Bench Report, where we will feature notable rulings from state and federal courts, brief news bulletins that impact the judiciary and announcements from judges’ chambers. Are we missing anything? Contact editor-in-chief Andrew Denney at adenney@schnepsmedia.com]
Federal appeals court seeks to fill vacancies on New York’s bankruptcy bench
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is seeking applicants for three vacancies in bankruptcy courts for the Eastern and Southern district courts, which encompass the New York City metro area.
In a notice posted last month on the Second Circuit’s website, the court posted an invitation for applications to an open seat on the Southern District bankruptcy bench that asks would-be judges to note in their cover letters if they would be open for consideration for two openings in the Eastern District, one in Brooklyn and one in the district court’s Central Islip branch.
Applicants who applied for one of the current Eastern District of New York vacancies should email bankruptcy_judge_application@ca2.uscourts.gov if they wish to also be considered for the Southern District vacancy, the court advises.
Qualified applicants should be in good standing with at least one state bar, or Washington, D.C. or Puerto Rico.
Bankruptcy judges are paid $227,608, per the court’s notice. Applications are available on the court’s website. Completed application packages must be in the format required by the Second Circuit and received no later than January 5, 2026.
Brooklyn man sentenced to life in prison for murder, dismemberment of acquaintance in drug dispute
A Brooklyn judge recently gave a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, to a 48-year-old man who killed an acquaintance in his East Flatbush apartment, dismembered the victim and hid the remains in his refrigerator and freezer for almost two years.
Nicholas McGee was convicted in October with first-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse. According to court papers and news reports, on March 25, 2022, McGee repeatedly stabbed and bludgeoned Kawsheen Gelzer, 39, after the two men got into an argument over drugs and sexual favors.
The New York Daily News reports that McGee and Gelzer had an arrangement in which Gelzer furnished heroin and crack in exchange for sexual favors from McGee’s wife, Heather Stines.
On the day of Gelzer’s death, Stines refused to give Gelzer oral sex, and Gelzer declined to give the couple drugs. Angered by the exchange, McGee began stabbing Gelzer while he slept on McGee’s couch.
According to court filings, McGee chopped up Gelzer’s corpse and stored portions in his refrigerator and freezer until January 20, 2024, when New York Police Department officers acted on a Crimestoppers tip that Stines was heading a dead body in the apartment.
Stines pleaded guilty last year to concealment of a corpse and bail jumping and is awaiting sentencing.
The case is captioned People v. McGee, Ind. No. 70707-24
Church didn’t violate rural zoning code with religious retreat, should get tax exemption, split appeals court rules
In a 4-3 split, the Court of Appeals ruled a church property primarily used for farming in a rurally zoned district where religious gatherings aren’t permitted violate zoning code and should receive a religious tax exemption, affirming lower court decisions.
Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson said the Queens-based First United Methodist Church should be granted a religious tax exemption for a property in the Town of Callicoon’s rural district. The church initially purchased the property with the intent to create a religious “retreat center” but actually uses it almost entirely for farming produce to give to low-income families from Flushing, Queens.
“While an exemption statute is to be construed strictly against those arguing for nontaxability, the interpretation should not be so narrow and literal as to defeat its settled purpose, which in this instance is that of encouraging, fostering and protecting religious and educational institutions,” Wilson wrote. “[T]here is simply no basis [to believe the church created]…a zoning violation sufficient to defeat a tax exemption.”
The church brought a case against the Town of Callicoon after it repeatedly denied the church’s tax exemption requests. Church representatives testified they only held two, small overnight retreats on the property where “bible study” and farming occurred, and since the property’s primary use was farming, it wasn’t in violation of the zoning code and should receive a tax exemption.
The town argued the church was not eligible for a tax exemption because any religious gathering broke the zoning code, which permits the site to be used for agriculture, single-family homes and government buildings.
The three-judge dissent agreed with the town, arguing that the church was clearly violating the town’s zoning code by holding religious retreats on the property and therefore not entitled to tax exemptions from the town.
“On multiple occasions, the Church violated the Town’s zoning code by holding religious gatherings on the property, because such gatherings do not fall within any “permitted use” in the RU Rural District,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the dissent. “The Supreme Court therefore should have denied the Church’s petitions, regardless of how the Church used the property on other occasions. The majority’s analysis to reach the opposite conclusion is a house of cards, constructed by individually unpersuasive arguments that cause the whole structure to come collapsing down upon minimal scrutiny.”
The case is captioned Matter of First United Methodist Church in Flushing v. Assessor, Town of Callicoon, 2025 NY Slip Op 06526
