Fulton County Court, Johnstown

Fulton County Court Information

Court details are provided as a public reference and were verified against the New York State Unified Court System at the time of publication. Judges, hours, and contact information can change; confirm current details with the court before relying on them.

What Fulton County Court Handles

The Unified Court System lists the court as Fulton County Supreme and County Court. Supreme Court hears civil matters; County Court hears criminal ones, with exclusive authority to try felonies, shared authority over misdemeanors, and appeals from the local courts. Fulton is unusual among the firm’s counties in having two County Court judges: Hon. Michael W. Smrtic, elected in 2020, and Hon. Chad W. Brown, elected in 2021 after serving as the county’s District Attorney. Both also sit as Surrogate. Family Court, Judge James Gerard McAuliffe Jr. presiding, is in the same complex with its entrance on North William Street.

The county’s felony docket is dominated by drug sale and possession felonies, burglary and grand larceny from the two cities and the lake communities, felony DWI from Route 30A and Route 29, felony assault, and the felony-level domestic violence cases that the Integrated Domestic Violence Part consolidates with the family’s custody and family court matters.

From Gloversville or Johnstown City Court to County Court

A felony complaint is arraigned in the local criminal court where the arrest happened: Gloversville City Court at 3 Frontage Road, Johnstown City Court at 33-41 East Main Street, or one of the ten town courts. Off-hours arrests go to the Centralized Arraignment Part, which the county maintains inside the correctional facility at 2710 State Highway 29: police lodge the arrestee at the jail, and a rotating group of local judges arraigns off-hours cases there for the whole county. At arraignment the judge sets release conditions and, in a domestic case, an order of protection; if you are held, CPL 180.80 requires release when the grand jury has not acted within the statutory deadline.

The District Attorney’s Office assigns different prosecutors to felonies and to misdemeanors and traffic in each local court, and the felony prosecutor presents the case to the county grand jury, whose schedule is not published. An indictment moves the case to County Court for a second arraignment, then discovery, motions, and a plea or trial. A felony reduced to a misdemeanor before indictment stays in the local court, which is why the first weeks after arrest matter most; the sequence is on our page on what happens after an arrest.

Drug Treatment, Mental Health, and Domestic Violence Parts

Fulton County lists three specialty parts, all at 223 West Main Street. The Superior Court for Drug Treatment, Judge Brown presiding, reached through the resource coordinator at (518) 706-3321, is the county’s felony-level treatment court: an eligible defendant whose charge is driven by addiction enters supervised treatment under a plea agreement that ends in a reduced or dismissed charge on completion, and in a sentence on failure. The Fulton County Mental Health Court, Judge Smrtic presiding, is the parallel track for cases that grew out of an untreated condition, and Judge Brown also travels to Fonda to preside over Montgomery County’s treatment courts.

The Integrated Domestic Violence Part, Judge McAuliffe presiding, brings a family’s criminal, family court, and matrimonial cases before one judge. A felony domestic charge with a custody or family offense proceeding attached is likely to be heard here, and the two tracks have to be handled together from the start. The county lists no veterans treatment court.

The District Attorney, the Jail, and the Building

Cases are prosecuted by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, in the same County Office Building at 223 West Main Street, (518) 736-5511, open weekdays 9:00 to 5:00. District Attorney Michael J. Poulin’s current term runs through 2026, and the office is on the November 2026 ballot. Defendants held before trial are at the Fulton County Correctional Facility, 2710 State Highway 29 in Johnstown, (518) 736-2198, a 165-bed facility that holds about 125 people on an average day and is run by the Sheriff’s Office under Sheriff Richard C. Giardino, whose office is next door at 2712 State Highway 29. The county Public Defender is in Gloversville at 57 East Fulton Street.

Park in the lot at the corner of North William and West State Streets. The main entrance is on West Main Street, with an accessible ground-level entrance at 111 North William Street and elevators to every public floor. Every person and package goes through magnetometer and x-ray screening; weapons, knives, and scissors are prohibited, and so is any audio or video recording, including with a phone. The court posts a dress code (no shorts, cut-offs, halters, or tank tops), runs 9:00 to 5:00 with a lunch recess, and announces weather closings on WENT radio. The Commissioner of Jurors, Patrick Kennedy, is in the same building at (518) 706-3255.

The Local Courts That Feed Fulton County Court

Fulton County is the cities of Gloversville and Johnstown, ten towns, and four villages. Felonies reach County Court from Gloversville City Court, Johnstown City Court, and the town courts of Bleecker, Broadalbin, Caroga, Ephratah, Johnstown, Mayfield, Northampton, Oppenheim, Perth, and Stratford. See the Fulton County page, the Gloversville, Johnstown, and Northville pages, the full courts directory, or our felony defense page, or call 518-245-9109 for a free consultation.