Taxpayers Foot the Bill

While a district judge is on paid leave and awaiting the outcome of state misconduct charges, she will make a taxpayer-funded trip to Harrisburg for annual judge training, officials said.

This week, Lower Southampton District Judge Susan McEwen will attend classes at the Minor Judiciary Education Board. There, she and other district judges will be updated on matters including new case law, the motor vehicle code and landlord-tenant issues, said Charles A. Carey, deputy court administrator for Bucks County.

The accommodations at a hotel and meals are covered by the state, said Susan Davis, director of the Minor Education Judiciary Board.

The continuing education for district judges is mandatory each year, although McEwen has until May to take the courses, Davis said.

There's a chance McEwen could lose her job before then.

In late June, the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board charged her with allegedly doctoring her grandson's court documents and, in a separate incident, cursing at a police officer while serving as judge.

Six months are likely to pass before the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline decides McEwen's fate, Samuel Stretton, an attorney who has defended several judges over the years, said in July.

If found guilty, McEwen faces anything from no action from the court to a public scolding to permanent removal from the bench.

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Taxpayers to Foot the Bill for Embattled Judge's Training Trip