Away from the bench, Peter Eugene Corning is a teller of jokes, a man who easily laughs. The man entrusted for 27 years by Cayuga County voters to dispense justice according to his best judgment is a storyteller, a mingler, a man of his own.

Local attorneys - even when they don't agree with the longtime Cayuga County judge's decisions - admire his independent decision-making and his command of his courtroom. His intimates say his nature is well-suited to analyze dilemmas and seek a just resolution to felony court cases, family court cases involving negligence of children and custody disputes, and civil cases involving sums up to $25,000.

Corning, for himself, says that he has always tried to be fair.

“He has become a legend in his own time,” said Raymond Sant, a Cato attorney and one of Corning's closest friends since 1958. “He was known in legal circles for being extremely fair, being very even-handed. While he was firm, he always had a great deal of compassion for the defendant and for everyone in the judicial system.”

Corning is a registered Democrat who won countywide elected office four times as district attorney and three times as county judge.

“For a Democrat in the county, that's quite a feat,” said Doug Bates, an Auburn attorney who has been practicing law since 1975. �������

His legal resume is extensive: two years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent, a decade as the county's top prosecutor, an offer to become a U.S. Attorney and 27 years as the county's top judge.

But Corning has been a lightning rod at times because of controversial cases.

He and his family have been the subject of gossip. A convicted drug dealer implicated his son John in the 1981 murder of Julie Monson, and another convicted drug dealer levied charges of drug abuse against Corning (unsubstantiated in an FBI investigation). John was placed on probation Dec. 22, 2004, following his guilty plea to the felony of fourth-degree conspiracy. ���

Corning is matter-of-fact about what a public figure faces from the rumor mill.

“The small community can be the most gracious and caring or it can be the most vicious. I've seen both sides of it,” Corning said.

As a judge he couldn't comment on the rumors, Sant said, “so with grace he kept his silence. That was a real shame. It was a travesty because so many people wanted to believe those rumors. I can tell you there was absolutely no truth to any of them.”

Corning is in his last month on the job. He was mandated by state law to retire after turning 70 in June. Thomas G. Leone will replace him Jan. 1.

“I wish him very well in his retirement,” said Cayuga County Surrogate Judge Mark Fandrich. “It's a shame for a judge who's at the top of his game to have to retire just because he's reached the mandatory retirement age.”

The Man in the Robe

Corning has a running joke with Lisa Giacona, closing in on her 21st year as Corning's court reporter.

“Did I surprise you with anything today?” he'll ask her after a court docket.

“No, I knew exactly what you were going to do,” she'll say.

She's been a sounding board at times when Corning begins mulling over cases. She chokes up talking about his impending retirement. She doesn't know how she's going to get through her turn to speak at a farewell party for Corning. He's been the boss of a lifetime for Giacona.

“He does what he feels is right, no matter what,” Giacona said.

Corning has held a reputation with other judges as honest, hard-working and fearless, said Robert A. Contiguglia, who served as Cayuga County Surrogate Judge between 1978 and 2001.

“He wasn't afraid to handle difficult cases when he was on the bench,” Contiguglia said. “He was always well-prepared. He was compassionate when he needed to be. He was tough when he had to be.”

“I believe I'm doing the job, hopefully, in an exemplary fashion,” Corning said, punctuating his remarks with frequent gestures. “The community needs justice decided in an intelligent, common-sense manner. Is it difficult at times? Yes. The Family Court can be excruciating.” �

Corning said it's been important for him to be an independent decision-maker, to be neither a rubber stamp for the district attorney's office or a bleeding heart for defense attorneys.

He believes that people are essentially good. He says that you can go to Auburn Correctional Facility, get to know the inmates there, and realize that most of them are good people who took a wrong turn.

But the rule of law is essential to maintaining society's good functioning, he said. One of his campaign slogans went: “There can be law and order without justice, but there can be no justice without law and order.”

“I think that most people are good people driven to bad things. I have faith that most people are good people,” Corning said.

Corning is a judge that follows legal precedent, providing litigants and attorneys predictability, said Jack McLane, who has been Corning's court attorney since 1983.

He has an intangible quality that commands respect, McLane said. And Corning has a sixth sense, based on good judgment and common sense, of how cases will turn out even before all the legal research is conducted, he said.

Corning often startles attorneys who have spent a half-hour going through a case's facts by analyzing the case's legal ramifications within seconds, Sant said.

Auburn attorney Dennis Sedor was inspired to become a lawyer when watching Corning prosecute Sammie Thomas and Willie Gene Thomas for the murder of his uncle George in 1976.

“Even back then it was easy to see Judge Corning had a real presence in the courtroom. He was a powerful individual who commanded a lot of respect,” Sedor said.

On the bench, Corning teaches juries by breaking down legal instructions, often threading them through with common-sense examples; he is sympathetic with green lawyers relying him on him to aid them in their first trial, Sedor said.

He will dress down attorneys who haven't prepared for their appearances, and he keeps court proceedings on a tight rein. Sedor jokes that Corning could compact a two-week trial into two days.

Corning reversed a murder conviction obtained by Sedor with former District Attorney Paul Carbonaro. “Even when he rules against you, you always came away with the feeling he usually got it right ... He always got to the right decision for the right reason. He had a knack for it. In the end, he'd always say the right thing at sentencing,” Sedor said.

Current District Attorney James Vargason said that Corning has mellowed over the years, sometimes giving lighter sentences that he would have 14 years ago when Vargason became DA. But the main thing Vargason thinks of with Corning is his command of the courtroom.

“The first thing I think of is he's an excellent trial judge. He has an excellent command of the rules of admitting evidence ... Judge Corning's ability to recall the law and analyze it in the context of a particular fact pattern and render a decision that was always correct is second nature to him. He always ran a very organized courtroom. He was not someone who was easily misled,” Vargason said.

Carbonaro, who was DA between 1984 and 1991 and has continued to appear in front of Corning on civil matters, said Corning is fair-minded, whether or not one is wearing a suit, a uniform or street clothes.

“I think Judge Corning has a firm sense of fairness and is not afraid to go against public opinion if he thinks he's doing the right thing,” Carbonaro said.

Corning never forgot what it was like to be a lawyer, so he understood things like scheduling conflicts for trial witnesses, but he didn't allow lawyers to sway him one way or the other, Carbonaro said.

“He wanted you to be prepared. He didn't want to take any guff,” he said.

Corning can be extremely solicitous and considerate with the defendants in his courtroom, asking how they are, addressing them by name and encouraging to make their court appearance a milestone toward changing their lives. Earlier this month, he told two different men facing extradition to Florida that at least it'll be warmer there.

He is quick to rebuke when defendants act out. He recently made a defendant swear an oath to tell the truth when he began to lie upon entering a guilty plea.

In Family Court, he will tell recalcitrant children who haven't had any authority figures in their lives that he is going to be that figure, said George Shamon, whose has worked as a support magistrate for 21 years and is another of Corning's close friends. In family court, Corning has zero tolerance for juveniles bullying schoolmates, Bates said.

A defendant might be “snotty and disrespectful and answering back,” Giacona said. “He just starts talking with them at their own level. He just has a way of talking to them and getting on their own level.”

Richard Luciani is a sentencing specialist who has prepared several pre-sentencing reports for Corning to review on behalf of high-profile defendants like Teri Whyte and Jolynn Wilson, two young women who pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of their young sons; Bradley Laning, who stabbed his girlfriend Andrea Kell to death; Michelle Davis, who pleaded guilty to killing her autistic son, Danny, by setting her home on fire; and Mary Schoonmaker, a teacher's aide who had sexual relations with three underage boys.

“What I really appreciate from the judge was his courage,” Luciani said.

He said Corning steps back to consider the factors that led to a crime. In Davis' case, it was her contention she had been sexually abused by her son and his behavior was escalating out of her control; in Schoonmaker's case, it was her mental health problems, Luciani said.

“He showed a real ability to look beyond the charges and the hype of cases,” Luciani said.

“The best thing to describe Judge Corning is that he's always on an even keel,” said David Elkovitch, who has appeared in front of Corning for the judge's entire career and represented Davis. “Which I think is the best policy for a judge. He's neither way up high or way down low. He's always in the middle, which is the best temperament to have as a judge.”

“I don't think he cares what the public, the media says. He does what he thinks is right,” Elkovitch added.

The most notorious case Corning has handled may be the case of Roger Kulakowski, who was convicted of sodomizing a 5-year-old girl in 1985. Under intense public and media pressure to do otherwise, Corning decided in 2002 to allow two girls to remain in the household Roger lived in because their mother had admitted neglecting them. Kulakowski had maintained his innocence, and Corning was skeptical of his conviction. Above all, he felt that the girls, Kulakowski's daughter and her half-sister, were thriving in the home.

“History has proven me right. Those children have flourished,” Corning said. “Because of political correctness, I would have forfeited those children.”

While the criticism got his back up at the time, now he finds more humor in it. Sometimes he plays a tape from CNN where his decision was criticized by a panel.

But usually Corning doesn't take the hard decisions of his court work home with him.

Sant says they talk about everything else but their cases.

“He's not afraid to make hard decisions,” Shamon said. “He's not afraid to send someone away. When he's done and made the right decision in his mind, he's able to walk away from it and not bring it with him.”

“That's probably one of the greatest assets I had,” Corning said. “My predecessor died from that. He'd make decisions and machinate over them.”

When the robe is off

Outside the courtroom, Corning dons a cowboy hat at times. He has called his Thoroughbred-Percheron gelding, Taber, one of his best friends.

“They always say the best thing a man has is to be on the outside of a horse. There's something peaceful,” Corning said.

When he bought an apartment building on South Street in 1985, Corning said he “learned how to be a carpenter and electrician and went to BOCES.”

He's made rocking horses and doll houses for his granddaughter. It's a relief mechanism, he says.

“From time to time, he's a good golfer when he works at it,” McLane said.

Corning plays tennis and boats, too.

Corning is the gregarious one, while his longtime friend, Lew Springer, a retired defense contractor who owned Creative Electric on Division Street, is quieter in comparison.

“We've had a really good friendship for well over 50 years. Either one of us can rely on the other. He loves to party. He loves to be around people. Stories and jokes are his stock and trade,” Springer said.

Above all, Corning values personal loyalty and fair play for everyone, Springer said.

He likes to be the center of attention, Sant said with fondness.

Sant, a former chairman of the Cayuga County Republican Party, said Corning never played favorites along political parties. “He had a great following, not only in the Democratic Party, but had many friends, including myself, in the Republican party,” Sant said.

Shamon said Corning's socializing has kept him in the “mainstream of society,” something of benefit to him as judge. “But all of that was never an influence on what his decision was,” Shamon said.

“What has always amazed me about him, no matter what we're talking about, he always has a life experience that he can relate,” said Kim Schooley, Corning's assistant for 12 years.

“(He's) kind and fair. I can say a hundred things. Very considerate. Just a great guy. An honorable judge,” Schooley added.

Like with any friendship, Sant said, the men have had their ups and downs. But whenever Sant gets mad, Corning reminds him he gave him his German Shepherd, Rommel, “the best dog I ever had,” Sant says.

Corning hasn't decided what he's going to do with his retirement. He might teach. Or practice law. Or write a book.

The people who work side by side with him, who value him as much as a friend as a boss or colleague, also are a bit at a loss at the end of Corning as an institution on Cayuga County's bench.

Shamon, an assistant district attorney under Corning for seven years, his law clerk for a while and then support magistrate, said his collegiality with Corning has brought him close to exciting politics, a position with positive impact and the chance to watch Corning's family grow up.

“I've been fortunate he's taken me every place he's gone, and it's been a great ride for me. I'm just one of the family. That's how deep it goes,” Shamon said.

“It's been difficult, everybody asking, 'What are you going to do?'” Schooley said. “It's the end of an era, but it's also the beginning of a new chapter.”

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net