Now-retired judge takes misdemeanor plea after dismissing DUI case for courtroom prosecutor's nephew
A retired Pennsylvania district judge has taken a misdemeanor plea in a case over his dismissal of a drunken-driving charge against a nephew of his courtroom prosecutor.
Dwight Shaner, 71, said nothing and appeared to be on the verge of tears Monday as he pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Harrisburg for hindering apprehension, reports the Tribune-Review. Todd Goodwin, a senior deputy attorney general handling the prosecution said perjury and obstruction charges against Shaner in the Dauphin County case would be dismissed.
Shaner retired in January after a 27-year career on the Fayette County bench. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 150 hours of community service.
At issue in his criminal case was a DUI charge against a nephew of the assistant district attorney then handling prosecutions in Shaner’s courtroom.
A grand jury found that the judge should have recused himself. Instead, the prosecutor stepped aside and, as Shaner admitted in his plea, he told the trooper who had issued the ticket, “I hope you understand I have to dismiss the case. It’s because he is the nephew of an assistant district attorney,” the article recounts.
The prosecutor, who is now a judge, isn’t accused of any wrongdoing; however, the DUI case was refiled against the nephew, who pleaded guilty last year. He got 60 days of house arrest and had his license suspended for a year.
Had Shaner been convicted of the other charges he faced, his pension would have been in jeopardy under the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act, the Tribune-Review says.
Although hindering apprehension is not listed in the forfeiture law, “it’s still a possibility” that Shaner’s pension could be at risk, Goodwin told the newspaper.
