Ann H. Lokuta answers the telephone at her Dupont home with a gentle reminder for a caller who still addresses her as "Judge Lokuta.""Call me Annie," the 56-year-old former jurist says in a calm, disarming voice her sharpest critics said they seldom, if ever, heard in her courtroom. "I'm no longer a judge."
The distinction, Lokuta hopes, is temporary.
Two years after her permanent removal from the bench, Lokuta remains confident the state Supreme Court will eventually overturn her sentence and return her to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas seat she had held since 1991.
Lokuta has prayed for a return to the bench since that dreary day at the state capitol in 2008 when the state Court of Judicial Discipline voted to bar her from judicial office and strip her of her pension.
Lokuta, following protocol even in the most excruciating of moments, stood frozen for more than a minute after the ruling, as the seven-member panel filed from the courtroom - the gilded, mural-lined chamber of the state Supreme Court.
If Lokuta's prayers are heard, if her hopes are realized, the ruling returning her to office will come from the same chamber, or a similar room in Philadelphia, where the high court will sit for a term in the late winter and early spring.
"I trust that if there's a sense of fairness, I will be restored to my former position," Lokuta says, remaining faithful to the legal process even after a Court of Judicial Discipline hearing last November that her attorneys described in court papers as a "sham proceeding" designed to keep her of the bench.
At the hearing, Lokuta and her attorneys argued the corruption that led to federal charges against three judges, a county commissioner and other officials had irreparably tainted her misconduct trial.
The discipline court narrowly rejected the argument, triggering Lokuta's latest in a series of appeals and petitions to the state Supreme Court.
"It might be a longer journey than I anticipated, but I'm just ready to hunker down and continue in my pursuit of this," Lokuta says.
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Former Judge Lokuta Waits for Decision on Return to Bench
4 comments:
Lokuta says, "I trust that if there's a sense of fairness, I will be restored to my former position,"
Well excuse me but... it appears to be that "officers of the court" just like Lokuta DO NOT give a "sense of fairness" to others, one example is the many children and their families who fell prey to the Luzerne County scandall, Kids for Cash.
Perhaps she never heard, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you!"
If she was a whistleblower (honest judge), then she belongs back on the bench.
I appreciate Judge Lokuta's hopefulness, but I'm afraid, like most victims, she's going to be disappointed in the end.
We don't see justice enought these days to recognize it.
For those who are not familiar with the situation, three judges in Luzerne County are headed to jail. The corrupt Judicial Conduct Board ignored all complaints against these judges, just as they ignore complaints about other corrupt judges.
Judge Lokuta was willing to speak to FBI agents, and she is one of the reasons the three judges, and others, are going to jail. Hence, the boot from the bench. Some of the crooks were directly involved with the decision.
The JCB, which repeatedly claims they can't investigate judges because they don't have the money, spent over $40,000 investigating Lokuta because she supposedly was nasty to courthouse staff.
Give me a break. We have corruption from top to bottom in PA, and many, many innocent people are suffering because of it. How anyone speaks to his/her staff is the least of our problems.
Judge Lokuta did not deserve to be removed from the bench. Who knows, she may have been the only honest person in the Luzerne County legal system.
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