Opinion ID: 2549762
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Timeliness of the Board's Allegations

Text: Testimony at trial referenced events occurring in the 1990s; appellant objected, claiming such testimony was time-barred. The court observed there are no statutory time-bars on judicial disciplinary proceedings, but Board Rule 15 [13] limits the evidence the Board may present. Lokuta I, at 1127. However, the court found the Board may consider otherwise untimely evidence if it is part of a pattern of misconduct, and the last episode of misconduct occurred no earlier than four years before the Board received the initiating complaint. Id., at 1128. The court noted most of the evidence against appellant occurred within the four years prior to the filing of the initiating complaint, and evidence pre-dating that time was part of the same pattern of recurring judicial misconduct. Thus, conduct occurring more than four years before the Board received the complaint was admissible because the Board established a pattern of recurring judicial misconduct. Id., at 1128-29. Appellant argues Rule 15 only permits timely allegations of current misconduct to facilitate the inclusion of similar prior misconduct. She contends pattern evidence was used improperly here to prove current misconduct in conformity with unproven allegations of prior misconduct. Appellant's Brief, at 44. Appellant also claims the Board improperly included allegations against her from previously dismissed complaints. See Pa. Jud. Conduct Bd. R.P. 16(A) (rescinded 2007) (If the Board dismisses a complaint ... the allegations in the complaint shall not be used against the Judicial Officer for any purpose in any other judicial disciplinary ... proceeding.). The Board admits there was a prior complaint and claims appellant knew its contents. However, the Board contends appellant waived her argument by failing to offer any evidence regarding the prior complaint's contents, not objecting when a witness mentioned the prior complaint, and not raising the claim in her Objections to the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law. Appellant baldly claims pattern evidence was improperly used to prove she acted in conformity with her alleged prior misconduct. However, she does not reference any specific evidence or cite any instance of record where the Board used pattern evidence to show she acted in conformity with prior misconduct. Therefore, appellant's Rule 15 claim fails for lack of development. See Walter, at 566. We also find appellant's argument that the Board improperly included evidence from previously dismissed complaints to be waived. Appellant, despite filing lengthy and detailed Objections to the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, did not claim the Board included allegations from a previously dismissed complaint, nor does she identify where she previously raised this claim. Accordingly, this claim was not preserved before the Court of Judicial Discipline, and cannot be raised now. See Pa.R.A.P. 302(a).