Judge Who Stole Cocaine Evidence Suspended

A former Pennsylvania judge has been suspended from practice as a result of a criminal conviction.

Details from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Former Washington County Common Pleas Judge Paul Pozonsky stood before the court Monday as a “broken man,” his voice catching as he described losing his job, his reputation and, soon, his wife to an addiction he fueled through stealing cocaine submitted as evidence in his court.

“I made terrible decisions,” he said. “It’s taken away the only job I ever loved.”

For those crimes, Mr. Pozonsky will spend 30 days in the Washington County Jail. Visiting Judge Daniel Howsare of Bedford County ordered him to serve up to 23½ months, but the 59-year-old is expected to be released on parole after one month.

Mr. Pozonsky was scheduled to surrender at 4 p.m. Monday. Defense attorney Robert Del Greco said he needed the afternoon to arrange for the care of his elderly parents, who he had been living with in Muse. After parole, he’ll spend two years on probation in Washington County and will be responsible for more than $15,000 in fees and other court costs.

In explaining his decision, Judge Howsare called the situation “very difficult” and said he didn’t intend to “add salt to the wound.” But he said some incarceration was required for the former judge who created the county’s drug court, knew counseling was available and “instead decided to use the evidence … to satisfy his drug use.”

“It’s a factor that’s difficult to overlook,” he said.

Mr. Pozonsky abruptly retired in June 2012, halfway through his second 10-year term and a month after he was stripped of handling criminal cases by the president judge. Investigators found that some evidence bags in his chambers had been tampered with, their seals broken, and some cocaine had been replaced with baking soda.

He pleaded guilty in March to three misdemeanors — theft by unlawful taking, obstructing administration of law and misapplication of entrusted property — and in exchange, prosecutors dropped three other charges and agreed not to seek incarceration as a penalty. Also that month, Mr. Del Greco said Mr. Pozonsky has been “clean and sober” going on four years.

On Monday, he called his client “the victim of a career-ending, self-inflicted wound.”

“To say that he has suffered mightily is an understatement,” Mr. Del Greco said. He said Mr. Pozonsky will probably be disbarred soon. He has lost his pension of $98,000 per year plus full medical coverage for life.

In asking for leniency, Mr. Del Greco noted the former judge’s 28 years of public service, his role in creating the county’s drug court and the more than 70 letters of support from former prosecutors, colleagues, family, defendants and others.

Jim Kohler, 64, and his daughter Kerri Kohler, 39, who went through Mr. Pozonsky’s drug court, addressed the court.

“He saved my life,” Ms. Kohler said.

Mr. Pozonsky said a “confluence of events” led to his drug use, including family, work and personal issues. He began abusing prescription medicine after a car accident and progressed to cocaine, he said.

He apologized to the court and the residents of Washington County.

“My conduct was inexcusable,” he said.

Deputy Attorney General Michael Ahwesh, lead prosecutor on the case, pointed out that Mr. Pozonsky began getting treatment May 14, 2011, but continued to ask police to turn over cocaine.

“He realized he had a problem and he didn’t do anything,” Mr. Ahwesh said. “The defendant turned the courtroom into his stash house and basically made law enforcement his private suppliers of cocaine.”

After handing down the sentence, the judge called for a recess to discuss where Mr. Pozonsky should serve the 30 days. Mr. Del Greco said he wanted him to stay in Washington County for the jail’s work-release program, and that it’s unlikely anyone the former judge sentenced would still be in the lockup unless the person is a repeat offender.

After the hearing, Barry and Andrea Aller of Burgettstown, whose late daughter Desire’e was in Mr. Pozonsky’s drug court, told reporters they had hoped for a harsher penalty.

“I just don’t think it’s fair that he could do that and sentence people when he himself could have been high sitting on the bench,” she said. “How can you be an addict only in the evening?”

Mr. Pozonsky told Judge Howsare he was never under the influence at work.

Final discipline will be imposed after disciplinary proceedings based on the conviction are concluded. (Mike Frisch)