Say Anything Blog

Philadelphia Judge Willis W. Berry Jr. broke the law by running a real estate business out of his court office for more than a decade, a state disciplinary tribunal ruled yesterday.

The finding that Berry committed theft of services was the strongest criticism in a harsh report that concluded that the veteran criminal court judge had put the judiciary in “disrepute.”

The Court of Judicial Discipline said Berry had operated a string of North Philadelphia apartments “with absolutely no overhead” by using court computers, telephones, fax machines, envelopes, postage, file cabinets, and the labor of his secretary - and sticking taxpayers with the tab.

To make matters worse, the panel said, the Common Pleas Court judge was a kind of slumlord, pocketing rent from derelict apartments marred by scores of code and safety violations that went uncorrected for years. Those problems were first described in an Inquirer investigation in 2007.

Berry’s behavior amounted to “a flagrant, open disregard for the dignity of judicial office,” the court found.

The judge’s misuse of court resources was brazen, it said. “The misappropriation is broad, bold, and impossible to overlook,” the panel found.

Berry, 66, a Democrat, was first elected to the court in 1995. He ran unsuccessfully for the state Supreme Court in 2007. He is paid $161,850 annually.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090626_Phila__judge_broke_the_law__panel_rules.html