EDITORIAL: Domitrovich should step aside during probe

July 11--Advertisement

Erie County Judge Stephanie Domitrovich is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

But because of the serious nature of the ethics complaints brought against Domitrovich by the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board, Domitrovich should step aside as a judge until the process is complete.

To be clear, Domitrovich has not been charged with any crime. Sadly, there are examples of such conduct in Pennsylvania. In 2008, former Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce was convicted of insurance fraud charges. Also in 2008, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, Luzerne County judges, were indicted on charges of accepting kickbacks to send juveniles to for-profit detention centers. Both men are serving time in prison.

The reputation of Pennsylvania's judicial system has also been tainted by the 2013 conviction of former state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin for using her Superior Court staffers to help her campaign.

The Judicial Conduct Board's 37-page complaint against Domitrovich alleges that she bullied, demeaned and violated the rights of those who have appeared before her. The complaint also claims she mismanaged a former employee and that she provided misleading information to those investigating her.

Visit www.GoErie.com/ethicscomplaint to read the allegations, including transcripts from a heated custody case in which Domitrovich said that the child caught in the fight would have to "pay the rates" to speak to the child's court-appointed legal guardian.

Domitrovich's lead lawyer, Leonard Ambrose, said the ethics charges are "devoid of merit" and that the team working to clear her name is "determined to expose the motivation behind the allegations."

Domitrovich was elected as the first woman to Erie County Common Pleas Court in 1989; voters have retained her twice. In 1990 and 1991, the Erie Maennerchor rejected her application to join the all-male club, which later changed its bylaws and accepted its first female member in 1993.

Domitrovich was irked in 2001 when the Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission gave her a "not recommended" rating when she ran unsuccessfully for Superior Court. She said the evaluation panel asked her how she could be an appellate court judge and care for her children. "I don't understand why, because of my gender, they think they are entitled to ask me these kinds of questions when my judicial career stands on my record," she said then.

Now as the Court of Judicial Discipline evaluates that record, she should remember what she said after the Maennerchor turned her down. "As a judge it's my responsibility to treat all people with fairness and equality." Fairness and equality are the standards for every judge presiding in criminal and civil proceedings or, like Domitrovich, in Family Court. Because of the pending ethics complaints, litigants appearing before Domitrovich might question the integrity of the judicial system and whether they will be treated fairly.

The judge should step aside until the case is resolved.

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