Grand jury recommends removal of Syracuse judge over same-sex wedding refusal

A Syracuse City Court judge now faces the most serious discipline a local jury can recommend, after a grand jury concluded Felicia Pitts-Davis should be removed from the bench for refusing to officiate a same-sex wedding.

The finding marks a sharp turn in a case that began with a courthouse ceremony on Nov. 16, 2024, when Pitts-Davis officiated an opposite-sex wedding and then declined to marry Shawntay Davis and Niccora Davis. The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct later said on March 30, 2026, that Pitts-Davis should be censured for the decision and described her conduct as serious misconduct that undermined public confidence in her impartiality. Pitts-Davis agreed to the censure.

The grand jury’s recommendation goes further. It places a sitting Syracuse judge at risk of removal over an act that state officials and local leaders quickly condemned as a breach of New York’s marriage-equality rules and the neutrality expected in city court. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh both criticized the refusal, while Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said a judge should not be able to pick and choose who gets a wedding or a fair shake in court.

The dispute has also moved through the courts in unusual fashion. Court records show Pitts-Davis first sought to keep the grand jury report sealed in January 2025. The Appellate Division of the Fourth Judicial Department later denied her bid to keep it secret, leaving the report’s findings in place. Fitzpatrick subsequently dropped his effort to make the report public, narrowing the fight over access but not changing the substance of the grand jury’s conclusion.

For Onondaga County, the case carries more weight than a single disciplinary dispute. Syracuse City Court handles misdemeanor cases, arraignments for felony defendants, small claims and some housing matters, work that depends on public confidence in a judge’s fairness and recusal decisions. Pitts-Davis had also been temporarily recused from cases involving the district attorney’s office while the investigation was pending.

The matter has drawn sustained attention because it appears to be the first complaint of its kind in New York state involving a judge refusing to marry a same-sex couple. It also raises a broader local question: whether a courtroom refusal rooted in a marriage ceremony can threaten a judge’s future on the bench and set a lasting precedent for judicial accountability in Syracuse.