Despite verdict, reforms in Traffic Court take hold

For decade after decade, irate prosecutors have pursued corruption in Philadelphia Traffic Court and won significant convictions _ only to have ticket fixing become standard practice once again.

But this time around, even with Wednesday's mixed verdict in the latest Traffic Court trial, reform may be too advanced to stop.

Of course, it helps that Traffic Court no longer exists.

"The reforms have been implemented and are in practice as we speak," said Deputy District Attorney Laurie Malone, who oversees a new team of city prosecutors handling ticket cases. "So there's no going backward."

After the FBI raided Traffic Court in 2011, the state Supreme Court appointed two former prosecutors to oversee the court and look anew at its culture of ticket fixing.

The result was a scathing report by William G. Chadwick Jr. documenting the court's entrenched practice of tossing tickets for the powerful and the politically connected. Even before the report was released, Common Pleas Court Judge Gary S. Glazer took over administrative oversight of Traffic Court with a mandate to stamp out corruption.

The shakeup went into overdrive after the U.S. Attorney's office indicted nine current or former Traffic Court judges in January 2013. In record time last year, the legislature and Gov. Corbett abolished Traffic Court, folded it into Philadelphia Municipal Court and replaced most of its elected judges with appointed hearing examiners.

The results have been startling.

In 2010, a year before the FBI went public with its raid, Traffic Court's judges tossed out 3,195 tickets "in absentia" _ the accused motorist didn't have have to appear in court, a sure marker for a fix.

Last year, the court tossed out just 169 tickets that way.

Overall, the acquittal rate in Traffic Court fell from 23 percent in 2010 to 14 percent last year.

"That gives you a glimpse of what was going on and how things have materially improved," said Chadwick, a former top city prosecutor.

"The crux of our report was that the court operated with two tracks of justice _ one for the connected and one for everybody else, he said. "We have worked very hard over the last few years to make sure that is gone forever."

The court's 110 employees kept their jobs, and cases continue to be heard at the old Traffic Court building at Eighth and Spring Garden Streets.

Working with Municipal Court President Judge Marsha H. Neifield, Glazer and Chadwick picked the five new hearing examiners. All are lawyers _ unlike the typical Traffic Court elected judge.

In May, Mayor Nutter and District Attorney Seth Williams announced that, for the first time, the District Attorney's Office would begin prosecuting Traffic Court cases, at a cost to taxpayers of $800,000. Previously, police detailed to the court would serve, in effect, as prosecutors and witnesses alike.

Malone said three assistant district attorneys and 10 paralegals staff cases, following strict protocols designed to ensure uniform treatment of defendants.

To curb corruption, she said, prosecutorial staff and hearing examiners are assigned cases randomly each day.

If your goal is to fix a case, she said, "you don't know who to call."

"We want to make sure that every citizen that walks in there know he is going to get the same deal as the guy right next to him," she said.

Glazer said he had worked hard to revamp the court culture, holding ethics classes and even "customer sensitivity" sessions.

"I think this a marvelous place now," Glazer said "It's not perfect. But I think the hearing officers are terrific, the DA's are good advocates, the court staff has embraced the change."

Of the old regime of elected judges in Philadelphia, only one, Christine Solomon, is still hearing cases. She will remain on the bench until the end of her term in 2017, then the seat will be abolished.

While Solomon was not charged in the federal case, the state Supreme Court has sought to discipline her for allegedly stonewalling Chadwick's 2012 inquiry into ticket fixing. That matter is pending.

Suspended Traffic Court Judge Michael Sullivan, acquitted of all charges Wednesday, holds the only other "grandfathered" seat. His position also will end in 2017.

As Sullivan left court, he had no apologies for how he had handled tickets, he declined to say whether he would seek to return to the bench.

Robert Graci, chief counsel of the Judicial Conduct Board, which examines ethics issues involving judges, said Wednesday that he could not talk about any specific case. But speaking generally, he said the board could still examine a judge's behavior, even if there was an acquittal.

In any event, Philadelphia lawyer Roy DeCaro, who won more than a dozen convictions in the last major ticket-fixing cases, in the 1980s, said he thought the newest reforms should hold _ "at least for the next several years."

"I think Judge Glazer is a really straight-arrow tough judge," DeCaro said. "Those guys down there would be very foolish to come even close to fixing tickets again."

Defense lawyer William Brennan, a lawyer for former Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary, agreed. His client was acquitted of fixing tickets, but guilty of making false statements to the FBI.

"I would think that if I was a judge, if my mother called me about a traffic ticket, I'd say, `See you in court, mom.'"