Trial delay for judge who ran a rental business out of his chambers

The criminal conflict-of-interest trial of former Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Willis W. Berry Jr. was postponed Monday after a veteran Center City lawyer joined his defense team.

Nino Tinari appeared with defense attorney W. Fred Harrison Jr. in requesting a delay so Tinari can review the evidence underlying charges that could send Berry to prison and cost him his judicial pension.

Common Pleas Court Judge S. Gerald Corso, a senior judge from Montgomery County who will preside over the trial because of Berry's long association with the Philadelphia judiciary, set July 20 for the three-day jury trial.

Corso also denied a motion by another Berry lawyer, Samuel C. Stretton, to postpone the trial so he could file a pretrial appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Stretton has argued that the criminal charges, filed by the state Attorney General's Office last May, violate Berry's constitutional right not to be tried twice for the same crime.

Berry, 72, was suspended without pay for four months in 2009 by the state's Court of Judicial Discipline on the same conflict of interest charges, because he operated his real estate business out of his judicial chambers, but there were no previous criminal charges.

Berry came close to pleading guilty to the criminal charges in December - he would have gone on probation and paid $50,000 restitution - but rejected the plea deal when he learned that it could require him to forfeit his pension.

Berry has received a $6,010 monthly pension since he retired in 2012.

As The Inquirer reported in 2007, Berry moonlighted as a landlord and ran his business out of his chambers for more than a decade. He used his court staff to collect rent, make repairs, and handle real estate paperwork.

After the newspaper raised questions about his conduct, Berry, on Stretton's advice, pledged to stop using his staff for his business.

His subsequent suspension from the bench resulted in criminal investigations - but no charges - by the Attorney General's Office and then-District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham.

The basics of the case against Berry were described in documents filed last May with the state charges. Berry is accused of cheating Philadelphia taxpayers out of $110,000 by using his judicial secretary, working from his chambers in the Criminal Justice Center, to handle rent and paperwork for 16 derelict rental properties.

Berry retired in September 2012 on the same day he was ordered to pay a $180,000 civil fraud judgment involving a North Philadelphia property that a city jury found he acquired by deceiving a client.

Last April, the state Supreme Court suspended Berry's law license for a year and one day over that incident. Since retiring, Berry has focused on his real estate business, rehabilitating substandard properties.