The Two Minute Verdict

Judge Peters was one of the five justices of the Third Department who decided Nickel's appeal. However, she was the only one of the five who insisted that, rather than being reduced to 32 years, Nickel's sentence should remain at 54 years. (See State Appeal.) Thus, a careful look at some of her other cases is in order:

Paul Czajka was actually a Columbia — not an Albany — County Court judge. He was apparently assigned to this case because one of the two sitting Albany County Court judges had recently retired, and there was a large backload of cases.

“In the course of consulting in hundreds of cases of accusations of child sexual abuse, defense attorneys across the land have reported to us that law enforcement personnel behave differently in a sexual abuse case. Exculpatory evidence is withheld or destroyed … Lies, circumventions, subterfuge, and hostile manipulation of legal rules abound.”
from Accusations of Child Sexual Abuse, by Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager, 1988, pp. 130-131.