Posted on 05/28/2002 9:15:01 PM PDT by Dallas
PITTSBURGH --
A judge should be suspended without pay for allegedly being drunk on the bench and misbehaving, a state conduct board said Tuesday.
Allegheny County Judge H. Patrick McFalls Jr. "has engaged in conduct that is so extreme that it exceeds reasonable expectations of a judicial officer's conduct," the Judicial Conduct Board wrote in a petition.
The board requested McFalls, 58, be suspended until the Court of Judicial Discipline hears a 35-count complaint against him.
The board alleges McFalls has appeared to be drunk while on duty, partially disrobed in a restaurant, exposed his buttocks to a woman and was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
McFalls has until June 4 to respond to the petition to suspend him without pay and 30 days to respond to the complaint.
McFalls did not immediately return a message left at his home. His attorneys did not immediately return calls Tuesday.
McFalls has not presided over cases since November, but has continued to draw his $119,000-a-year salary, except during an earlier 30-day suspension.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
Screw up move up. I bet if you had any kind of normal job you would be out on your a$$.
FMCDH
McFalls' lawyer asks more time to respond to charges
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge H. Patrick McFalls Jr. will ask the Court of Judicial Discipline for additional time to respond to formal charges filed against him last month.
The four-count complaint was filed April 4 by the state Judicial Conduct Board, which investigates allegations of misconduct by judges. The board has accused McFalls of presiding in a high-priced real estate case from which he should have excused himself.
John R. Orie Jr., a lawyer who along with Robert O. Lampl represents the judge, said they will file a request for 25 more days to respond. Orie and Lampl are trial lawyers.
The judge's lawyers, who have already had 32 days to respond, were supposed to reply to the charges by yesterday.
As a result of their caseloads and trial work, Orie said yesterday, they need until June 1 to prepare a response on the judge's behalf. The Allegheny County Common Pleas Court trial term, which began last week, runs to the second week of June.
The complaint against McFalls was filed with the Court of Judicial Discipline, which will hold a trial and decide on the charges. The eight-member court has the authority to impose sanctions ranging from reprimand to removal from office.
During the case of Patrick vs. Goldberg, one of the lawyers involved asked McFalls to step aside. That attorney, Maurice Nernberg, alleged that McFalls' law clerk, James Joseph, had a financial interest in the sale because he had an attorney-client relationship with Cuppy Real Estate, the listing broker.
McFalls refused to remove himself and subsequently issued rulings in the case.
McFalls fired Joseph and two others staffers in November after they went to superiors and accused the judge of being drunk on the job and missing work because of alcohol abuse.
The former employees have sued McFalls in federal court, claiming the firings were illegal retaliation that violated their constitutional rights.
After the staffers made their allegations, McFalls was placed on administrative leave with pay in December.
On April 12, McFalls, 58, of Shadyside, was suspended for 30 days without pay by the state Supreme Court. It is unclear what McFalls' judicial status will be when that suspension ends.
After an oral argument last month, the high court ruled that McFalls failed repeatedly to meet with his superiors early this year to discuss his return to the bench. The judge has admitted he abuses alcohol.
Judge Ralph J. Sposato, who serves as the conference judge for the Court of Judicial Discipline, will decide if the time extension is warranted.
Although Sposato is called a judge because he serves on the court, he does not hold a law degree. He is a retired Philadelphia teacher who taught at Roxborough High School from 1970 through June 1998. He is also a successful businessman and president of Dr. Ralph's Automotive Services Center Inc., an auto repair business.
If Sposato has a question, he can consult Henry Fitzpatrick, a suburban Philadelphia lawyer who is counsel to the Court of Judicial Discipline.
He's already showed his ass......
"Judge not lest ye be judged"
Pittsburgh--Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge H. Patrick McFalls Jr. took a “voluntary” leave with pay a day after his former employees filed a lawsuit accusing him of being boiled on the bench.
On December 6, 2001 the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts put McFalls on "voluntary administrative leave with pay ... pending further review."
This may be old news, but the idea of a drunken Irish judge gone berserk is timeless.
McFalls canned his law clerk, legal secretary and tipstaff Nov. 13 after they had reported his boozy behavior to Judge James. On December 5, McFalls' former law clerk, James Joseph, and the judge's former secretary, Barbara Joseph filed a lawsuit claiming McFalls was frequently all hooched up while on the bench, missed work due to being snookered and illegally fired the couple last month after they reported his besotted behavior to Judge James.
The suit cited numerous examples of abhorrent behavior, including McFalls wearing vacation clothes and sandals to court after returning drunk from a Cayman Islands vacation in late October--and had a vodka bottle fall from his pocket!
McFalls has denied the allegations, saying, "When [the Josephs] come to my family's funerals, these people are such idiots, they stand in the corner like Lurch of the Adaams Family."
A third former member of McFalls staff--John G. Jakomas--has sued to get his job back. Jakomas was McFalls' tipstaff, an officer whose duties include keeping order and decorum in the courtroom. Jakomas said McFalls called him from his car phone on October 5 to say he was drinking beer and wine in his car while on his way to Maryland. Jakomas claims McFalls said that "Osama bin Laden made me do it."
Jakomas--who said he saw beer cans and a vodka bottle in McFalls' car--told Judge James “McFalls was drinking everything he could get his hands on," the suit said. Being busted boozing ain’t new to McFalls. In 1986, he was arrested driving drunk.
Joseph was McFalls' attorney since the 1970s and was his spokesman during several highly publicized trials, including McFalls' testimony in the federal extortion and racketeering trial of Ben Woods, a longtime friend of McFalls. After McFalls fired his staff, he offered the tipstaff position to Woods as well as his son, Hugh McFalls III, both who turned the position down.
Da Judge was on duty in a restaurant, exposed himself there and was arrested for DUI there? Who did you say was under the influence here?
My favorite exerpt is:
The judge made several calls on his cell phone, saying at one point that he was calling the White House. Later, as the judge fumbled in his pants pocket, patrons saw McFalls' jeans drop, revealing white and blue boxer shorts. One couple, who had moved down the bar to be farther away from McFalls, overheard the restaurant manager approach him. "She said 'Sir, you must get dressed and leave,'" the woman said. "I thought, Oh my gosh, he's got boxers on. [His pants] were off and draped over the bar chair." After McFalls was ejected from Casbah, he spent time at a bar across the street, where a kitchen employee later summoned a taxi to take him home. The judge left that establishment at 1:30 a.m.
This guy still has a good way to go yet. Ted Kennedy makes this guy look like a choir boy.
I put this guy's name into a Yahoo! search and got all kinds of crazy articles. I posted one of the shorter ones here and an exerpt. I could have easily posted a dozen. This guy has a real checkered past.
Buttocks.
You ain't kiddin'. The judge hired a convicted felon to replace his fired "tipstaff" -- the one who keeps order in the court. The man did federal time for racketeering, extortion, bribery, etc.
There are also judges who fall asleep during the trials! "Wake me when the trial's over and the real thing's goin' on!!!"
"exposed his buttocks to a woman..." - Well what did you think was under that robe???
We all know that if he were Republican, impossible, since we elect these morons in Allegheny County, but if he were Republican, we all know the articles would all start:
REPUBLICAN Judge Accused of Being Drunk at Work
"He's one of the finest public servants I've known in my life," McFalls said, noting that he testified on Woods' behalf during his trial and would do so again.
Woods was forced to resign as president of the city council in 1989 after he was convicted on 17 counts of racketeering, income-tax evasion, extortion and conspiracy.
I noticed that your linked story also had a sidebar on the right side labeled "Related Stories". I hit a few of those links. Holy cow!!
McFalls also was arrested in Miami Beach on Feb. 9 after he allegedly failed to pay a $34 cab fare. In addition, he allegedly was kicked out of the Casbah bar in Shadyside after his pants reportedly slipped off during a night of excessive drinking.
Just hours before his arrest Saturday, Shadyside resident Val Norman claimed that an apparently intoxicated McFalls again struggled to keep his pants on while talking to an unidentified woman near the busy Walnut Street shopping district.
Link here.
Damn those pants! That ole boy has a hell of a time keeping his pants up in public. Gee, is that a sign of excessive drinking? Ted Kennedy would be proud!!
Dont ya hate when that happens. Wonder if Mrs. Poster would buy that one?
"Honest honey, I was just sitting there drinking, and my pants done fell clean off"
It reads like an Simpsons episode.
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