Posted: Monday, 23 November 2009 11:35AM
Does Toole's Vacation Mean Farewell
Steve Corbett Reporting
Monday, November 23, 2009
Several Luzerne County judges this year have taken vacations from the bench.
Some of these leaves of absence are permanent.
Former president judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are awaiting trial on 48 federal felonies, including racketeering. They will likely never again serve because they once announced to the world that they were guilty during a plea agreement they later withdrew.
Former Judge Ann Lokuta is on hiatus awaiting a decision from the state Court of Judicial Discipline that could reinstate her judicial duties after that same group booted her from the job for conduct unbecoming a judge.
But current Judge Michael Toole has taken a very odd kind of vacation.
And I doubt very much that he’s headed to Disney World.
Toole notified President Judge Chester Muroski last week that he would be taking a couple of weeks off. Toole said he wanted to clear his calendar for the rest of the month. But he did not say why.
Toole’s curent responsibilities include a high profile capital murder case that received much attention when it took place because of the role a visiting judge played in botching a protection from abuse order against the defendant who allegedly used a gun he should not have had to shoot and kill his wife.
Toole handled pre-trial preparation. Then he said so long. The judge apparently has other matters on his mind.
Toole has been the subject of much speculation about his role in the ongoing federal probe into public corruption in and around Luzerne County. Toole’s tipstaff, Tom Marino, testified before a federal grand jury in Scranton and the rumor mill has made much of Toole’s relationships with people caught up in the investigation, including his friendships with people who have already pleaded guilty.
Still, Toole is not accused of a crime. But that doesn’t stop people from wondering if he might be. The scuttlebutt puts everybody interested in justice in a strange position. Even I feel somewhat awkward in ferreting out facts and truth.
The other day, before Toole announced that he would be taking some time off, I called his chambers. I asked the woman who answered the phone if the judge was available. She said he was meeting with the other judges. I asked if she would ask him to return my call because I had a rather important question that he needed to answer. I was very specific.
The woman laughed, out loud and into the phone. I found no humor in my inquiry and didn’t think Toole would consider my question at all funny.
Then I asked how Marino was doing. The woman said he was fine. I asked if she would pass along my regards. She said she would.
The judge never returned my call.
Marino poses yet another problem in this ongoing federal investigation. Until he retired, Marino worked as one of Wilkes-Barre’s finest. I mean that literally. I always considered Marino one of the city’s gutsiest, most personable and likable cops. I always believed that cops, criminals and citizens were in good hands if Marino had their backs.
In those days, Marino had the whole city’s back.
I drank beer with him, shot guns on a combat shooting range with him and sat in a room with him one tense night as he sighted in a sniper rifle at the window of a home where the man inside had killed his wife.
I even gave him some advice one night when he arrived at my apartment after I intervened in an assault on a young woman by her violent, drunken college student boyfriend who had tried to tear her from the driver’s side of her car as she tried to pull away from his wrath.
“Be careful,” I told Marino as I prepared to release the young man I had physically restrained on the ground. “He’s wild.”
Ready for anything, Marino just grinned. I wonder how ready for anything he is today.
Other than quitting a grisly case right before trial, I have no evidence that Toole has done anything wrong. And quitting the case is wrong enough to disqualify him from serving as a judge for the rest of his life. But something clearly doesn’t feel right.
Sources tell me that Toole will not return to the bench. As of now, though, taxpayers are still paying his salary and full medical benefits remain available for him to use as he sees fit.
Toole’s vacation will not likely take him to holiday spots like Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Instead of a fiesta, Toole might be facing the most sober experience of his life. Tool’s time off could turn into a real bad trip.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Several Luzerne County judges this year have taken vacations from the bench.
Some of these leaves of absence are permanent.
Former president judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are awaiting trial on 48 federal felonies, including racketeering. They will likely never again serve because they once announced to the world that they were guilty during a plea agreement they later withdrew.
Former Judge Ann Lokuta is on hiatus awaiting a decision from the state Court of Judicial Discipline that could reinstate her judicial duties after that same group booted her from the job for conduct unbecoming a judge.
But current Judge Michael Toole has taken a very odd kind of vacation.
And I doubt very much that he’s headed to Disney World.
Toole notified President Judge Chester Muroski last week that he would be taking a couple of weeks off. Toole said he wanted to clear his calendar for the rest of the month. But he did not say why.
Toole’s curent responsibilities include a high profile capital murder case that received much attention when it took place because of the role a visiting judge played in botching a protection from abuse order against the defendant who allegedly used a gun he should not have had to shoot and kill his wife.
Toole handled pre-trial preparation. Then he said so long. The judge apparently has other matters on his mind.
Toole has been the subject of much speculation about his role in the ongoing federal probe into public corruption in and around Luzerne County. Toole’s tipstaff, Tom Marino, testified before a federal grand jury in Scranton and the rumor mill has made much of Toole’s relationships with people caught up in the investigation, including his friendships with people who have already pleaded guilty.
Still, Toole is not accused of a crime. But that doesn’t stop people from wondering if he might be. The scuttlebutt puts everybody interested in justice in a strange position. Even I feel somewhat awkward in ferreting out facts and truth.
The other day, before Toole announced that he would be taking some time off, I called his chambers. I asked the woman who answered the phone if the judge was available. She said he was meeting with the other judges. I asked if she would ask him to return my call because I had a rather important question that he needed to answer. I was very specific.
The woman laughed, out loud and into the phone. I found no humor in my inquiry and didn’t think Toole would consider my question at all funny.
Then I asked how Marino was doing. The woman said he was fine. I asked if she would pass along my regards. She said she would.
The judge never returned my call.
Marino poses yet another problem in this ongoing federal investigation. Until he retired, Marino worked as one of Wilkes-Barre’s finest. I mean that literally. I always considered Marino one of the city’s gutsiest, most personable and likable cops. I always believed that cops, criminals and citizens were in good hands if Marino had their backs.
In those days, Marino had the whole city’s back.
I drank beer with him, shot guns on a combat shooting range with him and sat in a room with him one tense night as he sighted in a sniper rifle at the window of a home where the man inside had killed his wife.
I even gave him some advice one night when he arrived at my apartment after I intervened in an assault on a young woman by her violent, drunken college student boyfriend who had tried to tear her from the driver’s side of her car as she tried to pull away from his wrath.
“Be careful,” I told Marino as I prepared to release the young man I had physically restrained on the ground. “He’s wild.”
Ready for anything, Marino just grinned. I wonder how ready for anything he is today.
Other than quitting a grisly case right before trial, I have no evidence that Toole has done anything wrong. And quitting the case is wrong enough to disqualify him from serving as a judge for the rest of his life. But something clearly doesn’t feel right.
Sources tell me that Toole will not return to the bench. As of now, though, taxpayers are still paying his salary and full medical benefits remain available for him to use as he sees fit.
Toole’s vacation will not likely take him to holiday spots like Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Instead of a fiesta, Toole might be facing the most sober experience of his life. Tool’s time off could turn into a real bad trip.
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Corbett
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