Montgomery County Court, Fonda

Montgomery 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 Montgomery County Court Handles

The court is listed by the Unified Court System as Montgomery County Supreme and County Court, and the two share the building and the clerk’s office. Supreme Court, Hon. Rebecca A. Slezak presiding, hears civil matters; County Court hears criminal ones, with exclusive authority to try felonies, shared authority over misdemeanors, and appeals from the local courts. Hon. Lorraine C. Diamond has been the County Court judge since her election in November 2024, following her service as the county’s District Attorney. Family Court and Surrogate’s Court sit in the same single-floor courthouse.

The county’s felony docket reflects its geography: felony DWI and drug felonies from the Thruway and Route 5, burglary and grand larceny from the city and the villages, 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 Amsterdam City Court to Fonda

A felony complaint is arraigned in the local criminal court where the arrest happened. For the City of Amsterdam that is Amsterdam City Court in the Public Safety Building at 1 Guy Park Avenue Extension, which the court system describes as the court that arraigns defendants accused of felonies in the city; elsewhere in the county it is the town or village court for the place of arrest. Montgomery County does not have a separately listed centralized arraignment part, so off-hours arraignments run through the local court. 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 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 makes the first weeks after arrest the most important stretch of the case. The full sequence is on our page on what happens after an arrest, and the Amsterdam page covers the city’s charge patterns.

Drug Treatment, Mental Health Treatment, and Domestic Violence Parts

Montgomery County lists three specialty parts, all at 58 Broadway. The Superior Court for Drug Treatment and the Superior Court for Mental Health Treatment are felony-level treatment courts presided over by Hon. Chad W. Brown, a Fulton County Court judge who sits in Fonda for those calendars; the resource coordinator is at (518) 853-8267. An eligible defendant enters supervised treatment under a plea agreement that ends in a reduced or dismissed charge on completion, and in a sentence on failure. Montgomery is one of only a handful of counties in the Fourth Judicial District with a listed mental health treatment part, which matters in cases where the charge grew out of an untreated condition rather than a criminal plan.

The Integrated Domestic Violence Part, Hon. Michael G. Dayian 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 Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, in the County Office Building at 64 Broadway in Fonda, (518) 853-8250. District Attorney Christina Pearson was elected in November 2024. Defendants held before trial are at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, 200 Clark Drive in Fultonville, (518) 853-5500, a 179-bed facility run by the Sheriff’s Office under Sheriff Jeffery T. Smith, across the river from the courthouse. The county Public Defender’s Office is in the Old Courthouse at 9 Park Street in Fonda.

The courthouse is a single-floor building with no public elevators and a ramped entrance at street level. The main parking lot is behind the building, with signed spaces on Court Street. 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 inside, including with a phone. The court posts a dress code (no shorts, cut-offs, halters, or tank tops) and allows no food or drink in the courtrooms. Court sessions run 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a lunch recess and rarely go later. Weather closings are announced on WCSS in Amsterdam and WGY in Albany. The Commissioner of Jurors, Valerie Zabo, is in the same building at (518) 853-8150.

The Local Courts That Feed Montgomery County Court

Montgomery County is the City of Amsterdam, ten towns, and ten villages. Felonies reach Fonda from Amsterdam City Court and from the town courts of Amsterdam, Canajoharie, Charleston, Florida, Glen, Minden, Mohawk, Palatine, Root, and St. Johnsville, plus the village courts including Canajoharie. See the Montgomery County page, the Canajoharie and Fonda pages, the full courts directory, or our felony defense page, or call 518-245-9109 for a free consultation.