Judge Michelle Johnson appointed to head the criminal division of the Queens Supreme Court

Court officials announced Wednesday that Queens Supreme Court Justice Michelle Johnson has been named administrative judge of the county’s trial courts, a role she has held as interim judge twice in the last three years.

Johnson, whose legal career has spanned more than three decades, has been on the bench since 2011 and was first appointed as an interim judge in New York City Civil Court. The following year, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Johnson to the city’s criminal court judge in Manhattan, and in 2016 he took on the role of chief criminal court judge in Queens.

Johnson was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2021 and was appointed interim administrative judge for the Queens Supreme Court in her first year in office, a criminal sentence after Joseph Zayas — now the court system’s deputy administrative judge — was appointed to the Appellate Division. Second department.

Former Judge George Grasso took over as administrative law judge but retired in 2022, giving Johnson another term as interim chief.

Following the appointment of Judge Donna-Marie Golia to the Second Department bench, Johnson is back in the role for the third time.

“Justice Johnson is a distinguished member of the New York bench, known for her unwavering commitment to justice and her fair and measured approach to decision-making,” Zayas said in a news release from the court system. “She is equally valued for her strong administrative skills, as recently demonstrated in her role as interim administrative judge of the court.”