Salvatore Richard Martoche (born October 12, 1940) is an American lawyer and a retired judge of the NYS Supreme Court, Appellate Division.

Early life and education

Martoche was born in Buffalo, New York. He received his Bachelor of Science from

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

in 1962 and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1967.

Career

He was a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

before going into private practice from 1969 to 1982. He served as assistant counsel to the majority for the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 1974 to 1982 and administrator for the Erie County Bar Association of the Pre-Trial Services Agency, Inc. from 1972 to 1981. Hide in Plain Sight, the 1980 movie starring James Caan, is based on one of Martoche's cases. He is credited with reforms in the United States Federal Witness Protection Program. Martoche was

United States Attorney for the Western District of New York The United States Attorney for the Western District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in seventeen New York (state), New York counties: Allegany County, New York, Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua ...

from 1982 to 1986, and was a member of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee from 1983 to 1986, serving as vice chairman in 1984 and chairman in 1985. He was assistant secretary of labor (enforcement) under President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

from May 1986 to 1988. In the Spring of 1988, Martoche turned down an offer from Attorney General Edwin Meese to replace

William Weld William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

as head of the criminal division of the Department of Justice. Weld and Deputy Attorney General Arnold Burns had resigned in protest of Meese's leadership in the Justice Department. Martoche told colleagues that he did not want to be publicly associated with Meese. Messe subsequently resigned over his involvement in the Wedtech scandal. On April 19, 1988, President Reagan announced his intention to nominate Martoche to be a member of the National Mediation Board for the term expiring July 1, 1991. From 1988 to 1990, he served as an assistant secretary of the treasury, overseeing law enforcement operations under President Reagan and President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

. Before leaving federal service, Martoche was a key official involved in the response to the savings and loan crisis, serving as the acting director of the Office of Thrift Supervision. In the 1990s, Martoche was in private practice in Buffalo and served as one of six commissioners of the state Commission of Investigation, which investigates organized crime and

public corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

statewide. Martoche served as a New York State Supreme Court justice for 13 years from January 2000 until his retirement. He was designated to serve on the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division Fourth Department on May 3, 2004, by Governor George Pataki. In August 2013 Judge Martoche retired from the bench and joined a Buffalo law firm as head of its

Alternative dispute resolution Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for ...

practice group.

Personal life

Martoche married attorney Mary Dee Benesh in 1967.

Awards and honors

* Buffalo State College alumni association Criminal Justice award 1983 * Ellis Island Medal of Honor 1992 * US Treasury Alexander Hamilton Award * The Buffalo News Citizen of the Year 1988 *

Lasalle Medal 1979 *

Distinguished Alumni Award 1986

References

External links

Nomination of Salvatore R. Martoche To Be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
–

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is the repository of presidential records from the administration of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, and the burial place of the president and first lady, Nancy Reagan. It is the larg ...

Nomination of Salvatore R. Martoche To Be a Member of the National Mediation Board
– Ronald Reagan Presidential Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Martoche, Salvatore R. 1940 births Living people Canisius University alumni United States Attorneys for the Western District of New York Judges of the New York Court of Appeals University of North Dakota alumni New York (state) Republicans Lawyers from Buffalo, New York Public defenders