Meet Rich

After graduating from law school, Rich was appointed as an assistant district attorney in Nassau County, New York. He returned to Fulton County to serve as assistant DA in 1986 before being elected Fulton County District Attorney in 1991. As a prosecutor, he wrote and administered a number of drug enforcement grants and worked with the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce on a county-wide project raising over $10,000 to assist with drug investigations, prosecutions, and substance abuse prevention programs, something Rich believes strongly in. During this time, he was also a member of the Fulton County Sex Investigations Team and the Joint Drug Investigations Team. After a campaign of successful programs and community building, Rich was re-elected as District Attorney in 1995.

He was appointed by the Governor in 1996 to fill the seat of Fulton County Court Judge after it was left vacant by the untimely death of the Honorable Michael Mazzone. Again, he was re-elected in 2006. He was the seventh drug court Judge in New York and the first in the eleven county 4th Judicial District beginning in 1997. With his efforts being so effective, Rich was asked to be the first Chairmen of the Fulton County Domestic Violence Task Force.

He was Co-Chairman, together with the Honorable Vincent Desantis, of the Mayors’ Task Force on Teen Violence and the Quality of Life in Fulton County. This task force was a joint effort between Mayor Seroussi and Mayor Pollak in response to 5 murders in Fulton County involving eleven defendants, nine of whom were under 21 years old. In that capacity, Judge Giardino wrote the grant which gained Fulton County 9 Americorp-Vista volunteers over five years.

As a judge, Giardino presided over 4,500 civil and criminal cases in his 18 and a half years. He tried over 200 cases including 40 murder or attempted murder charges, which led to Rich receiving numerous awards both as District Attorney and Judge. He has been a member of several Bar associations and a past Board member of the Family Counseling Center and the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce.

Giardino’s resume as a public servant doesn’t stop there, though. He was an adjunct faculty member at Albany Law School and has also taught at numerous police academies. He is a part-time instructor of Criminal Law & Constitutional Law at the Fulton Montgomery Community College dating back to 1986. On top of that, Rich has been an active firefighter with the Mayfield Fire Department for 18 years.

Finally, in 2002, the Fund for Modern Courts and the Capital District Court Monitors Project recognized Judge Giardino for his “sense of humor” and “somewhat informal style”, which put all individuals in his courtroom at ease!