Sol Wachtler

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Solomon "Sol" Wachtler (born April 29, 1930) is an American former jurist, Republican politician, attorney, and author from the state of New York. He served as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1992. Shortly after his appointment as Chief Judge, Wachtler said that district attorneys could get grand juries to "indict a ham sandwich", which has been widely repeated. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Wachtler served as a councilman and then a town supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead, New York. In 1968, he was appointed as a state trial court judge. Four years later, Wachtler was elected to the New York Court of Appeals, where he served for nearly 20 years and authored nearly 400 opinions. Governor Mario Cuomo appointed him to the position of chief judge of the Court of Appeals in 1985. In 1992, Wachtler was charged with various crimes stemming from threats he made to a former lover, Joy Silverman, and her daughter. After resigning his judgeship, Wachtler...

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