“It seems the trial should be moved to another state then”
You can’t move a state proceeding to a different state. You can theoretically move to a different venue within the same state. The influence of PSU would not be the same everywhere in Pennsylvania.
Federal cases can be moved from state to state under some circumstances, but there hasn’t been any federal involvement in this case.
Pennsylvania can be such an embarrassment at times. You don’t even need to be a member of the bar to be a magisterial district judge in PA.
This judge has a BA in criminology from IUP. Nothing against commonwealth schools, but that doesn’t exactly make him a great legal scholar.
And to be fair, its not only limited to PA. Many other states have jurisdictions in which judges can be elected without any legal education and/or experience…including parts of my own state.
I can’t see the logic/legal reasons behind allowing elected judges with no legal educational background/bar license/attorney job experience hearing cases involving legal complexities beyond simple small-claims type cases unless there was additional mandatory training equivalent to what bar licensed attorneys are obligated to have.
It’s also something former attorney colleagues who came from foreign countries where the mere notion of this would be absurd…including some where all judges not only have to be law school graduates and pass national bar exam with the pass rate in some cases set at 3% of examinees by design, but also attend a special government run training program for prosecutors/aspiring judges on top of that.
It makes no sense that such a case would have been entrusted to him. You don’t need to come from a foreign country to find this absurd.
And yes it was done to the Piazzas, who I’m sure expected a real judge with a legal education and years of experience to judge such a complex case, and at a minimum an explanation as to who is responsible or liable for their son’s death . I really don’t see how this judgement of a non attorney cannot be considered backwards and shameful.
(I’m sorry about the mistake regarding inability to move to another state a state matter.)
I’m sure this isn’t over.
Simeone mentioned upthread that the Betas would probably not be returning to campus this fall – nearly all of those charged withdrew from school, citing “feeling ostracized” as one cause. If they wish to re-enrol, they’d have to go through the PSU student disciplinary procedure first, if/when all legal proceedings are concluded.
Well, in defense of Pennsylvania, which was the second state to enter the union, there are no official requirements to sit on SCOTUS either. Maybe the magisterial district judge requirements date back to the 18th century?
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-u-s-supreme-court
I got the impression from a statement made by Joseph Ems’ lawyer that the defendants were basically given the choice of withdrawal or expulsion. He said “Penn State has been aggressive in their discipline and let’s just say that he won’t be returning in the fall.”
If Sinclair’s ruling stands Ems faces no charges going forward.
Change in DA could affect Penn State hazing case…
http://www.wfmz.com/news/change-in-da-could-affect-penn-state-hazing-case/615875665
I always thought this thing would get pled out but now it gets more interesting. This article maybe explains to me why she did what she did with the charges and when she did it. I originally thought she was throwing everything against the wall figuring something would stick but she probably had one eye on the election.
“there are no official requirements to sit on SCOTUS either.”
That’s right, and it wouldn’t have made any sense to have them, since the first U.S. law school wasn’t founded until 1817.
That was in a different era when the main path to become a lawyer was through apprenticeship with an established attorney.
College education was optional as shown by famous 19th century lawyers who had no college educations such as Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln.
However, US society was less complex and had correspondingly simpler laws and less protections/safeguards than we have nowadays.
^^ And nowadays you pretty much have to have gone to Harvard or Yale Law to even be nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. Personally, I think that’s way too limiting and creates its own set of problems, but I’ll take that any day over the complete lack of standards for magisterial district judges in Pennsylvania.
In the PA system, a Magisterial District Judge would not preside over an actual criminal trial for any significant offense, including the ones remaining in this case (I think). They do, however, preside in preliminary hearings in criminal matters.
I missed this development while I was away.
The last U.S. Supreme Court justice never to have graduated from law school was Robert Jackson, who also was the chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. He attended Albany Law School for a year, however, he was a member of the bar, and he had a long, successful career as a lawyer before being appointed to the Supreme Court.
In the Carter Administration, there was some sentiment for appointing at least one non-lawyer to the Supreme Court – maybe a scientist or engineer with significant executive experience as a government official or nonprofit administrator.
Many lawyers I’ve worked with contend that all of what a lawyer really needs to function as an attorney and to a lesser extent, judge was covered in 1L(first year of law school). A few of them have gone so far as to state US legal education should be cut to 2 years or even 1 year.
Interestingly, in the UK, one can become a lawyer without having majored in law as an undergrad by taking a 1 year conversion course afterwards and then depending on performance…get the internship/sponsorship to eventually be admitted to their equivalent of the bar.
That combined with being a member of the bar and a successful legal career meant he had far more education and qualifications than most 19th century lawyers/judges,…or elected judges in areas where having a legal education/bar license/substantial meaningful legal experience isn’t mandatory.
So many questions remain after Centre County judge dismisses the most serious charges in PSU fraternity case…
http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/so-many-questions-remain-after-centre-county-judge-dismisses-the/article_f00bc564-928b-11e7-a5c5-f75bd856dee0.html
Good article @bester1. This quote resonates with me:
Alums invited to stay at Penn State frat where pledge died…
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article172123272.html
Can PSU get any more odd? Unbelievable. Let the darn wounds heal for goodness sake. Wonder if Jay Pa had any say in this? Where on earth are the leaders?
Tone deaf doesn’t even begin to describe this…
To say the leaders have brains made of lobotomized rocks as a result of this decision to use the house for an effective party would be giving them far more praise than they deserve…
Has it been a year? There was a murder suicide at a Michigan College in a dorm room and they put the room back online the next year. There are odder things than using the house again. I dare say there are many people in and connected to the college that do not feel at all connected to that frat or its former house in any meaningful way. Not trying to rain on the pity party but I don’t think everyone would think that someone had rocks for brains that was part of the planning on future use of the house. It is after all an empty house.
^ ^
It would have been much more considerate in light of the recent death of Piazza and the ongoing trial of the fraternity members “allegedly” responsible for his death to at least wait until some measure of closure was had and the fraternity issued a contrite statement regarding what transpired to the Piazza and the larger campus community beyond what was done.
This is a time for the fraternity to be wearing sackcloths asking the Piazza family and the larger community for forgiveness for what transpired…not to be holding a party as if nothing happened.