Pa. Justices Urged To Trim Judge's Sanction For Lying

Law360, Philadelphia (March 11, 2014, 5:11 PM ET) -- The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline acted too harshly when it issued a decision in August removing a Philadelphia County judge from the bench after withholding information about his legal and financial struggles as part of a review of judicial candidates, the state’s Supreme Court heard Tuesday.

Samuel Stretton, an attorney for former judge Thomas Nocella, told the justices during oral arguments that the lifetime ban on holding judicial office that his client was slapped with for the offense in August presented the Supreme Court with a chance to assert its authority under the Pennsylvania Constitution to supervise the whole of the state’s judicial system.

“This is a good case … for this court to consider its standard of review,” Stretton said, arguing that the disciplinary measure was out of line with punishments imposed on other judges for what he said were greater offenses. “It was inconsistent with numerous decisions by the CJD. It was too harsh.”

In 2012, Nocella was slapped with accusations by the state’s Judicial Conduct Board that, in both 2009 and 2011, he withheld material facts about his legal problems as part of an evaluation that the Philadelphia Bar Association Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention conducts for judicial candidates. In particular, Nocella failed to disclose nearly $500,000 in liens he was facing, and accusations that Nocella had intentionally dissipated the funds of a public action committee that was under court order to pay a $39,000 fine.

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Pa. Justices Urged To Trim Judge's Sanction For Lying