On March 9 of this year Philadelphia police were summoned to a residence to quell a violent domestic disturbance. There, they encountered two women who allegedly had been struck in the face, choked and knocked to the ground. The assailant was a male, age 60. The victims were his wife and adult daughter.
The cops saw the incident as quite serious and the district attorney filed two felony charges including aggravated assault and strangulation. There was a protection from abuse order. Whether the charges were accurate or not, the system designed to mitigate domestic abuse seemed to be working.
The case drew immediate public attention because of the defendant. He was a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court family court judge recently elected to serve a second 10 year term on the bench. He was also a former district attorney who had prosecuted sex crimes in neighboring Bucks County.
Because of whom he was, and the severity of the charges Pennsylvania’s Judicial Conduct Board suspended the judge and his salary pending resolution of the charges. Effectively, the judge was “benched without pay” in a system where charges like this would routinely require a year or more to be resolved.
That occurred during the second week of March. Yet, news reports circulated last week that all was resolved. The charges were dropped, the suspension lifted and the judge was re-instated. The matter of just where he will sit awaits an administrative order from the court. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that based on the judge’s immediate decision to seek in-patient treatment and other unspecified remedial action, the victims asked the district attorney to abandon the case.
We won’t know precisely what occurred on March 9. But there are some economic reality lessons which come when incidents like this occur. First, imagine the scene once the police were summoned. The judge’s wife and daughter had to instantly understand that the responding police were going to quickly grasp this wasn’t just any perp. Philadelphia does have 128 judges circulating in its population of 1.6 million. Still, the responding officers had to quickly grasp that they were handcuffing, Mirandizing and transporting a commissioned judge to be processed for arraignment.
After collecting themselves from whatever occurred that Monday night, wife and daughter faced some potential grim realities. If the criminal prosecution went ahead and produced anything other than an acquittal or dismissal of the charges, their 60 year old husband/father would be removed from the bench and a job that pays over $200,000 a year in cash and benefits. The now former judge could try resuming a law practice he had departed from 12 years earlier but a felony conviction brought the risk that the state’s Supreme Court could suspend or revoke that law license because violent offenders are not folks courts want practicing law.
In practical terms a plea or conviction represented a form of economic Armageddon. Dismissal of the charges allowed reinstatement of the judge in a world where he could serve until age 70 before he would need to face a retention vote. If we conservatively estimate the judges salary and benefits at $225,000 a year, a conviction risked $2.25 million of future income and benefits.
The risk to the judge was a risk to the financial future of the entire family unit. And, that often drives just how far prosecutions like this will go. It isn’t just judges. Domestic violence allegations that become public are affecting the careers of physicians, teaching professionals, executives and others who deal with the public in prominent ways. The local OB-GYN may have a five star rating on WebMD but a criminal record for violence is tough to defend as part of your staff.
It is often the divorce lawyer who bears this perplexing news. Yes, your spouse has been abusive and it may have been going on for years. But professional licenses often support hefty incomes and lifestyles which can be lost in the scrum of a criminal or civil proceeding. Realize as well that victims are vital to criminal prosecutions but a district attorney decides whether the charges are brought, settled or dismissed. Victims in this part of the legal world are well-advised to discuss the repercussions with a lawyer conversant in family law and tort law. The district attorney is there to defend the public. Victim interests are far more complex.
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