{"id":6014,"date":"2013-01-31T17:54:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T22:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2013-01-31T17:54:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T22:54:26","slug":"w-chester-jurist-ordered-to-relinquish-keys-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=6014","title":{"rendered":"W. Chester jurist ordered to relinquish keys, ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

President judge said cases will be handled by rest of county\u2019s magisterial district judges<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/p>\n

\"Senate<\/a>

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (left) poses with Magisterial District Judge Mark A. Bruno at a District 11 Special Court Judges Association meeting in November. Pileggi has called for the end of Philadelphia Traffic Court, where Bruno, who was indicted Thursday, did substitute work.<\/p><\/div>\n

For the second time in less than a year, Chester County\u2019s president judge has ordered a magisterial district judge to relinquish county-issued keys, ID, and\u00a0 cellphone.<\/p>\n

President Judge James P. MacElree II issued a brief order Thursday afternoon that referenced an indictment unsealed on Thursday against Magisterial District Judge Mark A. Bruno, one of 12 defendants. The 50-year-old judge from West Chester is accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud in a case alleging ticket-fixing in Philadelphia\u2019s Traffic Court.<\/p>\n

MacElree said Bruno cannot reenter his office or any Chester County magisterial district judge\u2019s office, enter or modify any court records, or perform any duties associated with being a magisterial district judge\u00a0 –\u00a0a directive that represents the extent of MacElree\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

Only the state\u2019s Court of Judicial Discipline has the power to suspend a judge, an action that typically follows a recommendation from the state Judicial Conduct Board, which is charged with investigating alleged ethical misconduct by judges. So far, no complaints have been filed by the board, a spokesperson for the Court of Judicial Discipline said.<\/p>\n

Vincent P. DiFabio, who represents Bruno, said his client will plead not guilty at his arraignment, which will be held Tuesday since Bruno is currently out of town.\u00a0DiFabio said Bruno worked no more than a handful of weeks a year in Philadelphia as a substitute judge, filling in for vacations and other absences. DiFabio said he was still reviewing the indictment. \u201cOur intention at this point is to defend it very vigorously,\u201d DiFabio said.<\/p>\n

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said his office has not been advised of any \u00a0conduct related to the indictment within Chester County. \u201cAnybody with any information should contact the FBI \u2013 Newtown Square Resident Agency at 610-353-4500,\u201d Hogan said in a news release.\u00a0The indictment \u00a0said Bruno requested assistance from Senior Traffic Court Judge Fortunato N. Perri Sr. to fix a ticket for \u201cJ.M\u201d in January 2011. During a subsequent intercepted phone call, Perri took credit for \u201cputting\u201d Bruno in Traffic Court, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9) also issued a news release in response to the indictments, which include nine judges as defendants. Pileggi said the indictments reinforce the plan he announced Jan. 11 to end \u00a0Philadelphia\u2019s Traffic Court. \u201cTraffic Court is an institution with a multi-generational tradition of dysfunction,\u201d \u00a0Pileggi said in the release. \u201cSince I announced my plan to abolish it, not a single member of the General Assembly has publicly defended the status quo. I\u2019m pleased by that, because the status quo is indefensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacElree\u2019s order said the caseload for Bruno\u2019s court will be handled by the rest of the county\u2019s magisterial district judges.<\/p>\n

In February 2012, MacElree issued a similar order to Magisterial District Judge Rita A. Arnold, who was accused of improperly handling a 2010 citation issued to her son, Forrest \u201dForrie\u201d C. Solomon Jr. One of several improprieties listed in the complaint by the Judicial Conduct Board involved transferring her son\u2019s case to Bruno\u2019s court without authorization.<\/p>\n

In June, the state Court of Judicial Discipline found \u201cclear and convincing evidence\u201d that Arnold violated the rules of professional conduct. A month later, an eight-member panel of the court, citing Arnold\u2019s remorse, suspended her for a month without pay followed by two years\u2019 probation. Arnold, who was paid during her time out of the office, resumed her position on the bench on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

\n
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President judge said cases will be handled by rest of county\u2019s magisterial district judges By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times For the second time in less than a year, Chester County\u2019s president judge has ordered a magisterial district judge to relinquish county-issued keys, ID, and\u00a0 cellphone. President Judge James P. MacElree II issued a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1247,1747,1748,1749,1027,1335,870],"class_list":["post-6014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-court-of-judicial-discipline","tag-magisterial-district-judge-mark-a-bruno","tag-magisterial-district-judge-rita-a-arnold","tag-president-judge-james-p-macelree-ii","tag-senate-majority-leader-dominic-pileggi","tag-vincent-p-difabio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}