In re Strock, 3 JD 98
| Decision Date | 29 December 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 3 JD 98,3 JD 98 |
| Parties | In re: Gloria M. Strock, District Justice In and For Magisterial District 23-1-03 |
| Court | Court of Judicial Discipline of Pennsylvania |
BEFORE:
OPINION BY JUDGE SYLVESTER
The Judicial Conduct Board (Board) filed a Complaint with this Court against former District Justice Gloria M. Strock. The Complaint consists of eight Counts based on allegations that Respondent repeatedly violated the Order of Forrest G. Schaeffer, President Judge of the 23rd Judicial District, dated November 21, 1994 by failing to deposit in a designated bank account, at the end of every day, all cash, checks and money orders received in the district justice office each day. The Complaint contains allegations of general application which aver the failure to make deposits in violation of the Order of the President Judge, the commingling of a portion of the funds with personal funds, and the use thereof by Respondent to meet personal financial obligations (paragraphs 1-15 of the Complaint). The Complaint then chronicles, day by day and month by month, from March, 1995 to September, 1996, the receipt of funds by her office, the delayed deposit in the designated bank account, and the apparent replenishment of the designated account by Respondent at the end of each month when she received her monthly salary check (paragraphs 16-111 of the Complaint).
The Board and the Respondent have submitted Stipulations of Fact in lieu of trial under C.J.D.R.P. No. 502(D)(1), and a waiver of trial, as well as Suggested Conclusions of Law in which the parties agreed that District Justice Strock is subject to discipline "on the basis of Counts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8." A copy of the Stipulations is attached to this Opinion.
Based upon the Stipulations of Fact, this Court finds that Respondent is a former District Justice of Magisterial District No. 23-1-03 which is located in Berks County and encompasses Wards 8, 9, 11, and 12 of the City of Reading. Respondent commenced her judicial service on December 7, 1992, and served until her resignation on June 8, 1998.1 Prior to her service as a district justice, the Respondent, who has formal training in accounting, was employed as a field auditor by the Office of the Auditor General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As part of her duties as district justice, the Respondent was responsible (1) for the management and fiscal administration of her office, Magisterial District 23-1-03, and (2) for the safe-keeping and timely deposit of funds received by Magisterial District No. 23-1-03.
At all relevant times, the District Justice Automated Office Clerical Procedures Manual, prepared by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, provided in Section 5.11.7:
All money, including partial payments received by the district justice office (e.g., cash, checks, and money orders), must be deposited in the bank at the end of every day. A bank night depository may be used by all (night) courts as well as by any court that cannot get to the bank during banking hours. Money (receipts) should not be taken home or left in the office overnight or unattended. Daily Cash Balancing procedure must be done every day.
On or about November 21, 1994, Forrest G. Schaeffer, President Judge of the 23rd Judicial District, issued a Court Order which provided in pertinent part:
Based upon the Stipulations, this Court finds that from March 1, 1995 through October 1, 1996, Respondent would take her office's daily receipts of checks and cash home to her residence. She would use the cash for her personal purposes, until she received her monthly salary deposit. When Respondent received her monthly salary deposit, she would write a personal check to "cash", use the proceeds to replenish the cash she had taken for her personal use, and then deposit the checks and cash to her office's account. Thus, Respondent in effect was both delaying the making of deposits and issuing to herself loans from funds which belonged to the Commonwealth. The scheme was uncovered when Respondent was audited in mid-month, before she was able to replenish cash from her monthly salary deposit.
Based upon the Stipulations, this Court further finds that due to her training in accounting and her position as a district justice, the Respondent knew, or reasonably should have known, that her failure to make full and timely deposits was improper and that her commingling of personal and public funds and her use of public funds to pay personal financial obligations was improper.
The Board has charged that the conduct of Respondent set out in the Complaint subjects her to discipline under Article V, §18(d)(1) of the Pennsylvania Constitution because that conduct constitutes:
1. misconduct in office (Count 1)
2. such that brings the judicial office into disrepute (Count 2)
3. neglect or failure to perform the duties of office (Count 3)
4. a violation of Rule 1 of the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of
District Justices (Count 4)
5. a violation of Rule 2A of the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of
District Justices (Count 5)
6. a violation of Rule 5A of the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of
District Justices (Count 6)
7. a violation of Rule 13 of the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of
District Justices (Count 7), and
8. a violation of Article V, §17(b) of the Pennsylvania Constitution by virtue
of her alleged violation of Rules 1, 2A, 5A and 13 of the Rules Governing
Standards of Conduct of District Justices.
The Board and the Respondent have submitted "Suggested Conclusions Of Law Submitted Pursuant To C.J.D.R.P. No. 502(E)."2 A review of this filing indicates that the Board has agreed with Respondent not to proceed on Counts 1 (misconduct in office) and 7 (a violation of Rule 13 of the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of District Justices).3 While this procedure may be expeditious, and the maintenance of procedural integrity may be viewed as of negligible importance in a given case, it does contravene C.J.D.R.P. No. 502(F) which requires the Board, in any case where it wishes to withdraw formal charges which have been made in a Complaint, to seek the permission of this Court to do so, and to support its request with good reasons.4
Having said that, we will accept the parties' "Suggested Conclusions" as an implied request by the Board to withdraw Counts 1 and 7 and will permit the withdrawal of those Counts in this case, but direct the Board to follow Rule 502(F) in any future case where the Board may wish to withdraw formal charges made in a Complaint.
We move then to consider Counts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 which we will address in that order.
Count 2. Conduct which brings the judicial office into disrepute.
The Pennsylvania Constitution, at Article V, §18(d)(1), provides that a judicial officer whose conduct brings the judicial office into disrepute is subject to discipline imposed by this Court.
This Court has had occasion to consider conduct which the Board has charged as being such conduct as has brought the judicial office into disrepute.
In In re Smith, 687 A.2d 1229 (Pa. Ct. Jud. Disc. 1996), this Court noted that the conduct of a judge which results in diminishment of the public esteem for that judge, may not support the conclusion that the conduct has brought the judiciary as a whole into disrepute, absent a persuasive showing by the Board that the conduct is so extreme as to have brought the judicial office itself into disrepute. In In re Cicchetti, 697 A.2d 297, 310 (Pa. Ct. Jud. Disc. 1997), this Court reiterated that notion as it concluded that a judge's conduct in making persistent sexual advances towards a subordinate employee, who repeatedly rejected the advances, constituted conduct of such an extreme nature that the judicial officer had brought the judicial office itself into disrepute.
In In re Trkula, 699 A.2d 3 (Pa. Ct. Jud. Disc. 1997), we held that an overt, ex parte attempt by a judicial officer to influence the outcome of a case on appeal from his or her court was a subversion of the appellate process and would "assuredly dash public confidence in [the adjudicatory system] and in the judicial office itself," Id., at 8. See also In re Joyce, 712 A.2d 834, 844 (Pa. Ct. Jud. Disc. 1998).
In Cicchetti, 697 A.2d at 312, this Court noted that:
The determination of whether particular conduct has brought the judicial office into disrepute, of necessity, is a determination which must be made on a case by case basis as the particular conduct in each case is scrutinized and weighed.
In this case the stipulated facts establish that from March 1, 1995 through September, 1996 - a period of eighteen months - Respondent consistently and deliberately failed to deposit the monies received in her district justice office into the appropriate district justice bank account at the end of every day, as she was required to do by the District Justice Automated Office Clerical Procedures Manual, promulgated by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, as well as by the Order of the President...
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