Riverhead Justice Court

The town board has nixed the plan to move town facilities to the Kmart building. With safety and security concerns over the town justice court "first and foremost," more ideas for construction and renovation are discussed.

Riverhead Town officials are considering leasing the vacant 106,000-square-foot former Kmart building on Route 58 for use as a municipal complex. The town would consolidate most departments in one location.

Riverhead Town Justice Sean Walter of Wading River takes the oath of office this afternoon at Riverhead Town Hall.

Former Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter, who was elected to fill a vacancy in the Riverhead Justice Court created by the death of longtime Justice Allen Smith this summer, will take the oath of office Thursday. Courtesy photo.

Judge Allen Smith urged town board after town board to replace the cramped, outmoded justice court — which the town has planned to do for more than a decade, but never acted.

L.I. Ducks manager Wally Backman was acquitted after a four-day criminal trial in Riverhead Justice Court.

On a typical Monday morning, the queue of people waiting in line to get into Riverhead Justice Court extends down the main hallway, out the front door, down the steps and onto the sidewalk outside the building shared by the court and the Riverhead Town Police Department.

Robert C. Brown, 65, will undergo a court-ordered mental and medical evaluation. He stands accused of killing his 71-year-old wife with a pistol at their Riverhead home during the early morning hours of Aug. 27.

In Riverhead Justice Court, outstanding arrest warrants are already piling up. What's going to happen after the 'bail reform' law kicks in next year and most people charged with crimes will no longer be arrested and brought before a judge?

It’s been five years since the town board last took up the issue of Riverhead’s inadequate justice court and police facilities. Since then, the situation at 210 Howell Avenue has only gotten worse, according to frustrated town justices, the police chief and staff who work there.