By Guy Page
Judge Justin Jiron Monday, October 30 refused a prosecutor’s plea to send a man to a psychiatric facility for a competency assessment, and instead released him. The man then returned home and beat a woman and a child, police say.
According to today’s Caledonian-Record, Cody Myott, 30, of Newport Center was before Jiron – twice appointed a Superior Court judge by Gov. Phil Scott, and with a lengthy record of controversial ‘catch and releases’ – on charges of resisting arrest and multiple violations of conditions of release.
Both the county prosecutor and the mental health screener wanted a competency screening. “The state is pretty concerned regarding his paranoia delusions and we ask that this court today order him to in-patient treatment,” Orleans County State’s Attorney Farzana Leyva reportedly said.
Myott then went home and allegedly beat a woman and a child. Three hours after his release, he was on top of the woman, beating her, and screaming that her magic wouldn’t work on him, and dragging her to the toilet and hitting her head on the rim, and claiming that “I am the law around here,” police reports published in the Caledonian-Record say. An eight-year-old also was assaulted.
Back in court on Tuesday, Myott pleaded innocent to assault charges. This time the defense attorney asked for a competency evaluation, which Jiron granted.
This week’s ‘catch and release’ is the latest in a long string for Jiron, including:
Last month, Jiron released into his mother’s custody an angler who police say tried to kill another Clyde River fisherman who had tangled his line.
In May, Jiron found no probable cause for Vermont State Police arrest of a man for burglarizing a St. Johnsbury pizzeria. He issued the decision through a clerk, rather than follow the usual practice of telling the state’s attorney and police in open court. “The fact that he didn’t even taken the bench to address it is pretty egregious,” State’s Attorney Jessica Zaleski reportedly told the Caledonian-Record. “Without an explanation from the judge it’s pretty hard to figure out what exactly is missing.”
Last October, Jiron dropped felony drug trafficking-to-minors charges against the operator of the Best Buds Smoke Shop in St. Johnsbury. The man’s arrest followed a six-month investigation by state authorities. Jiron said the bust lacked probable cause due to lack of witnesses.
A ‘person of interest’ in the December 1, 2022 shooting death of David Peatman, 66 at his home in Eden was released on $300 bail – and then failed to show for two St. Johnsbury court appearances. The suspect, Shawn Rich, already had a history of hiding from the law. Whether Rich has appeared before a Vermont court since December, 2022 is not known.
These decisions and others led state senator Russ Ingalls to fume in a June 2023 letter to fellow senators: “This guy is still a judge?!”
At the October 11 press conference, VDC noted Jiron’s pattern of catch-and-release and asked Scott, “Did you make a mistake with him?”
“I have to have faith in his judgment and what he’s doing,” Scott answered. “I don’t know anything about the specific cases, but I think he made it to the next level to become a judge because I had faith in his integrity and ability to make those decisions.”
Despite standing by his man on October 11, Scott signaled impatience with the catch-and-release practice at his press conference today.
A Rutland Herald reporter asked about his city’s Democratic mayor questioning the judicial catch and release policy. Scott responded: “We need to make sure people are held accountable. We can’t just let people go.”
The Herald asked why there’s more courtroom catch and release now than in years past. “I think it’s a legislative initiative,” Scott said “It’s happened over time.”
The practice should be addressed in the upcoming Legislature, Scott suggested.
Categories: Crime, Uncategorized
The judge is not doing his job and should be removed.
He is protecting the perp instead of the victims.
Competency hearing on the judge’s qualifications?
Peer review of job?
…just plain stats on his rereleases and reoffending releases???
Catch and release is a great idea for fish, not so much for dangerous criminals. What will it take for someone in a position of responsibility to realize this ? I shudder to imagine, but rest asured that it will be the gun’s fault !
@ Patrick
What will it take? It will take a lunatic released by the judge to attack him or his loved ones personally.
I agree 100%
Leniency is not a virtue when the hug and kiss state means assault and battery for the victims. What needs to happen for him to get disbarred?
Judge = Idiot
If one were to submit this story as a work of fiction, it would surely be rejected as too implausible. But there it is; how was he ever appointed to h to he bench?
What do you expect from a judge that has been praised by scott!!!
this judge should be tarred and feathered and kicked out of town
Just as some criminals are deemed “repeat offenders” or “career criminals”, this judge has a comprehensive track record as pro-offender and should be branded a “serial releaser” or a “career criminal advocate”. Jiron is beyond shame and I dont blame the Governor directly but at this point he should really come clean that he made a mistake by his appointment.
Guy….surprised you haven’t posted about the Somali kid getting out on curfew after killing another kid. Ain’t liberal justice grand?
ummmmm…… see lead story?
Head smack! Sometimes those story carousels move to fast…..
tell me about it. Sitting in press conference today getting calls (silenced) and texts from two reporters and assistant editor on today’s issue.
Time to fox a judge…the libs seem to do it well
It becomes more and more obvious that you need to be prepared to protect yourself.
Not that it will help much, but I do believe that shining a light on darkness helps remove that darkness.
My suggestion would be for a conservative who has the time (retiree?) to make a list of Vermont Superior and Supreme Court judges, go back through their rulings, count their pro and con decisions, and develop a percentage score by category, such as releasing felons, defunding the police, abortion, how often they’ve been reversed on appeal, and “gun control” to name a few.
Update monthly and publish where every Vermont resident can see the results. YouTube, conservative media, X, Rumble, Truth Social, etc etc. Get Eyes On!!
Exposing the scores based on real rulings would help send the various liberal judges scurrying like the swine they are.
And for those wondering, I didn’t include District Court judges
I’ve been keeping a list of all the refugees in Burlington who have committed violent crimes against our citizens (back to 2005) where a county judge has plead down their charges just enough to avoid deportation. They do this all the time.
Elon Must let the beans spill this week about local law enforcement (local prosecutors, judges, elected officials) being the target of dear old, dried up, demon-seed George Soros. Old George determined that rotting the system from the local level was much cheaper and more effective than focusing on national offices. The Open Society, ActBlue, etc. funding is the feeding trough for local races to install the candidates who gleefully do the bidding of dear George and his merry band of nihilists. Phil pretending he doesn’t know – he really is a stooge for the regime. The jig is flying up bigly and soon the entire rotten conspiring, colluding, treasonous scheme will be blown wide open. Follow the money and the breadcrumbs. All connected to the same people, inlaws and outlaws.
A reported BOTH the State’s Attorney and the mental health screen recommended Myott be confined to an inpatient evaluation. Apparently in Jiron’s “expert” opinion was that the paranoid delusional Myott was no threat to be sent home despite his earlier threatening to shoot people while out on previous conditions, including on a 24-hour curfew.
Earlier this year, a local rep in the NEK pushed for Jiron to be brought up on judicial/peer review for releasing a CT visitor how was charged with shooting a person in a StJ drug deal. The shooter was sent home to his parents in CT under 24-hour curfew. A couple of weeks later he was charged with murdering a pregnant convenience store worker and is a suspect in a second shooting in Hartford.
Jiron should be thankful he didn’t get anyone else killed this week . . . yet.
This just goes to show what happens when you have a feckless ” bleeding heart ” judge who will not follow the law or what the prosecutors recommend.
This so-called ” Judge “, needs to be reprimanded and taken off the bench, as these agenda-driven policies are harmful to Vermont citizens, as he has proven !!