The Mini-Judges v. The President Judge

PJ Michael J Koury, Jr.

If you ever wondered why so many people run for magisterial district judge, it's a pretty good gig. The salary is $93,338 this year, and it goes up every year with a cost-of living adjustment.  There's also a great benefits and pension package. You can even work another job. The only down side is that, from time-to-time, you pull a week of night duty. But that's not too bad. Cops must still let our mini-judges sleep between 11 pm and 7 am, unless there's a murder or some other horrific crime. Moreover, the County supplies our front-line jurists with free internet and a fax machine so they can arraign defendants from the comfort of their own home. But it appears that a majority of them now believe that since they are addressed as "Your Honor" and wear black robes, they must be hot stuff. So hot that they can ignore the President Judge. They just found out differently. Let me tell you the story.

Sometime last year, the press complained to President Judge Michael Koury Jr that it was having difficulty getting access to records on nights and weekends. Because the state constitution requires that all courts must be open, Judge Koury contracted with an answering service to field calls from members of the press or public. A telephone operator would note the name of the person seeking access, the records requested and fax number and email address. This information would in turn be relayed to the mini-judge, who could then respond. Each magisterial district judge was requested to provide his or her cell phone number, which would be provided to the answering service.

Magistrates responded, not with their cell numbers, but a refusal letter from Northampton County's Magisterial District Judges' Ass'n.  Alan Mege, President of this exclusive club, argued the press could wait for regular business hours. He added there's no reason to give the press "differential and preferential treatment."

This letter was not enough. In addition, three magisterial district judges complained to a court administrator.

Magisterial District Judge Jackie Taschner was at least professionally defiant: "With all due respect, I will not provide you with this information. I cannot imagine that the President Judge can require me to provide personal contact information to an unknown entity over which I have no control."

It's a frickin' answering service, Jackie, not me.  If that were the case, you'd have a point.

Magisterial District Judge Doug Schlegel, who has spent most of his time in office on sick leave, also said No. "1. My cell phone is a private number.  2. I don't want to be bothered when on Night Duty (which is tough enough) by the press. 3. The press can access during office hours."

Doug, how the hell would you know how tough night duty is when you're always calling off sick?

Magisterial District Judge Rick Yetter gets the prize as biggest idiot in his response. He treats the request to supply his cell phone number as a motion from some poor litigant and enters a sarcastic court order. "Denied. I will not be woken up by the press during hours I can be sleeping. I was the  MDJ Assoc. President when our association and myself [sic] worked diligently with law enforcement, central booking, and then [sic] President Judge Baratta to firm up this night time [sic] schedule. You do not have my permission to share my cell phone number."

Instead of sharing his cell phone, Yetter should have been asked to lend his car. That went on a badass demolition derby on Superbowl Sunday.

Here's a point that apparently has eluded our corps of mini-judges. The President Judge is the boss, not them. It's his job to supervise the little fiefdoms run by our squires to ensure they comply with the statewide Rules of Criminal Procedure, statutes and little things like the Pennsylvania Constitution.

So guess what has happened?

President Judge Koury last week entered an Administrative Order providing as follows:

1) The night duty judge is going to be handed a cell phone to be used exclusively for calls related to night duty. When his time is up, he has to make sure the next judge up gets it.

2) Any member of the public (not just the press) can call a judge on night duty to request records that happen to be in his possession, and they must be supplied within three hours.

In addition, he has advised that "[a]ny defiance of the order will result in an immediate referral to the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board and/or the Pennsylvania Supreme Court."

At one time, President Judge Koury was himself a Magisterial District Judge. There was no free Internet, no fax machine and no arraignments from the comfort of your home. Police could contact him at any time, even between 11 pm and 7 am. On one day, he was required to leave home and report to his office 14 times over 24 hours.

The mini-judges picked a fight with the wrong person.