STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A political ad posted Monday by the Staten Island Republican Party says judicial candidate Raymond Rodriguez “repeatedly let loose” a defendant who went on to murder a stranger.
Rodriguez on Tuesday fired back with an ad saying the Republicans “circulated a deliberately false narrative” which he argues was perpetuated by a misleading New York Post article in 2017.
The defendant in the Staten Island murder case, Dantey Moore, was sentenced in 2022 for the senseless stabbing in broad daylight of a 63-year-old grandmother in West Brighton.
Over the course of three years and eight convictions prior to the stabbing, Moore had spent multiple stints on Rikers Island. Rodriguez presided over a few of the defendant’s misdemeanor cases in Criminal Court.
Court documents show he did not preside over the felony case months prior to the murder, when the district attorney’s office offered three years probation in lieu of prison time.
Rodriguez said the Republican Party, “under the leadership” of Assemblymember Michael Tannousis, is “not seeking to inform the public, but to deceive you.”
In an interview Tuesday with the Advance/SILive.com, Rodriguez said he has enhanced sentences in the past when appropriate, including a misdemeanor case for the defendant in question.
Judge Raymond Rodriguez sentences a defendant on Sept. 5, 2025, in state Supreme Court, St. George.(Advance/SILive.com | Kyle Lawson)
He said Moore violated the terms of a plea deal in 2016, so he gave him jail time and probation. Then, when he saw the defendant again in early 2017, it was for a minor drug case.
Rodriguez said one of the reasons he was re-appointed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio was because he provided proof to city officials that he did not preside over Moore’s final case before the stabbing.
“This record I have built over 27 years, 13 years as a judge, is impeccable,” said Rodriguez, who was appointed in January to oversee Staten Island Supreme Courts.
Tannousis maintained on Tuesday that Rodriguez is partially responsible for the defendant not being in jail at the time of the murder, saying the judge “admitted that he presided over multiple cases involving this defendant.”
“The case he referenced in his video is only one of the cases this defendant faced which happened to be presided over by another Democratic judge,” said Tannousis.
“Our goal is to make Staten Islanders aware before entering the voting booth. Staten Islanders have a clear choice: either soft on crime Democratic judges or tough on crime Republican judges.”
Rodriguez currently serves as the administrative judge for Richmond County, where he oversees both the Criminal and Civil Terms of Staten Island Supreme Court. In addition to his administrative role, Rodriguez serves as an acting justice of the Supreme Court, where he presides over “high stakes criminal and civil trials.”
He is being challenged in this election for the New York Supreme Court 13th Judicial District by Judge Matthew Blum, who has secured the Republican nomination for the seat. Blum currently serves as a Civil Court judge in Richmond County, a position he has held since January 2020.
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