Urgent Need A Mitigating Factor

The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline rejected the proposed sanction of removal from office of a magisterial district  judge and ordered a suspension without pay and probation for misconduct relating to dismissed parking tickets.

The judge presided over a busy court and suffers from Crohn’s Disease, which caused urgent bathroom needs.

She received a number of parking citations, three of which she had dismissed.

The court found mitigation

The offending conduct here was an isolated incident which we believe would never have happened save for the coming together of a number of events and circumstances, as

– Respondent’s affliction with Crohn’s disease,

– the onset of an urgent need to use a restroom,

– the inadequacy of the restroom in the court office,

– the need to use the restroom at her home,

– the non-existence of a legal parking space near her home at the time,

– the issuance of the tickets while she used the restroom at home,

– the onset of a painful medical condition requiring treatment including hospitalization and surgery during the critical 15-day period when she would, ordinarily, have paid the tickets.

The misconduct was deemed to be an isolated incident by an outstanding magisterial district judge who presides over a busy court in an exemplary manner.

Further, the judge had self-reported. (Mike Frisch)