NORWICH – The 76 Pomeranians adopted out by the SPCA over the last four months will stay with their new families, according to a ruling made Wednesday by Chenango County Supreme Court Judge Kevin M. Dowd.

The decision came after a hearing described by Assistant District Attorney Steve Dunshee as “yet another episode in the continuing saga” of the Steven W. Fong case.

Fong is the Brooklyn man from whom Chenango County Sheriff’s deputies seized 76 dogs and the remains of 38 additional animals on Oct. 12. The Pomeranians became the property of the SPCA in November, as a result of an order issued by Town of Oxford Justice John Weidman in the civil proceeding brought against Fong by the shelter.

Weidman recused himself from the criminal case against Fong in December, at which point it was reassigned to Greene Town Justice Dante Acunto.

One of Acunto’s first actions in the case was to issue an order on Jan. 9 which attempted to vacate Weidman’s decision in the civil suit. According to Dunshee, this ruling “has upset the whole apple cart,” and left the dogs’ new owners in a state of “horrible limbo.”

Dowd issued a temporary stay and a notice to show cause on Acunto’s order last week and called for Dunshee and Fong’s legal counsel, attorney Scott Clippinger, to appear before his court.

The issue at hand was whether Acunto had the authority to vacate the order of another judge in a civil matter which he had not been assigned.

District Attorney Joseph McBride called the Greene judge’s actions “unlawful” and contrary to the “most basic fundamentals of justice.”

The matter is causing uncertainty in the community and “people to lose their faith in the justice system,” he added.

While Dowd agreed with Clippinger that the statutory law which allows property to be forfeited before the outcome of the criminal trial is an issue that concerns the court, he maintained that the “law in the case is Judge Weidman’s ruling” and “that decision stands.”

“He (Acunto) made an order when he had no authority to make that order,” said Dowd. According to the judge, the Greene justice was only assigned the criminal matter as the civil proceedings had been concluded when Weidman recused himself.

Dunshee rejected Clippinger’s claims that sufficient evidence had not been presented before Weidman in the Oct. 28 civil proceedings for the judge to render a decision.