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'Jekyll and Hyde' Judge Faces 'Targets' In Her Conduct Trial

'Jekyll and Hyde' Judge Faces 'Targets' In Her Conduct Trial - Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 10:12PM EST

Reported by: Joe Holden
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007 @10:12pm EST

HARRISBURG, DAUPHIN COUNTY- Defenders of Luzerne County Judge Ann Lokuta say her trial has been an inexplicable parade of character assassins against the 14-year veteran jurist.

Judge Lokuta is accused of being abusive, hostile, demeaning and combative. They are charges some members of the bar and legal community believe should cost the "Jekyll and Hyde" judge her job.

Testimony in day-three of judicial conduct proceedings included stories from an assistant district attorney, sheriffs deputies and court reporters. Most testified Lokuta was consistently and patently abusive and undermined courtroom security through alleged unexplained demands of deputies.

Courtroom reporters told the court Lokuta had cataclysmic mood shifts, referring to her as a "Jekyll and Hyde."

But Louis Sinatra, attorney for Judge Lokuta, claims all of the witnesses have offered little more than here-say and unsubstantiated claims. Sinatra says boxes of transcripts, thousands of pages of documents from court proceedings with Lokuta should serve as best evidence. He says the text in those documents should do the talking.

But Luzerne County Assistant DA Nancy Violi testified it wasn't Lokuta's words, but her tone. One court reporter told the court Lokuta frequently used inflated vocabulary and dressed down people in her courtroom.

Lokuta is charged by the Court of Judicial Discipline with alleged violations that could lead to penalties ranging from reprimand to removal from the bench.

Another week will have to be scheduled with the court several weeks from now to handle the amount of witnesses in the trial.

 


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