Sunday, May 25, 2014

Ex-judge's lawyer questions corruption charges


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The lawyer for a retired Philadelphia judge who's charged with corruption says he's outraged by the state attorney general's decision to prosecute the case.

Samuel Stretton, the attorney for Willis Berry Jr., said Thursday his client will plead not guilty and questioned why the 72-year-old ex-judge is charged with one felony count each of theft and conflict of interest.

Stretton says the state Court of Judicial Discipline considered the ethical implications of the same allegations and suspended Berry from the bench for four months without pay in 2009.

State prosecutors said in announcing the charges Thursday that their independent investigation showed Berry illegally used his judicial secretary and other taxpayer resources in the daily operations of his business between 1997 and 2007.

Full Article & Source:
Ex-judge's lawyer questions corruption charges

3 comments:

Thelma said...

Whatever happened to the Judicial Canons?

Anonymous said...

So, if I understand this correctly, this judge's lawyer is "outraged" that he was criminally charged over something that the Bar investigated and found the judge actually did?

It's an "outrage," all right, but not for the reason this lawyer says.

What is the standard of practice of law in this country today?

Anything at all that some lawyer somewhere can say with a straight face?

StandUp said...

More and more of these stories are making their way to the news.