Judicial Conduct Board Chastises Judge for ‘Support Relationship’ with DA

A Centre County judge accused of exchanging text messages with District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller about a trial received a ‘letter of counsel’ from the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board.

Judge Jonathan D. Grine was issued the letter following review of a complaint referred from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a petition earlier this year alleging professional misconduct by Parks Miller for ex parte communications with two judges — Grine and now retired Judge Bradley Lunsford. Parks Miller faces a disciplinary hearing in November.

According to the board, a letter of counsel is issued when ‘there is sufficient evidence of judicial misconduct to warrant the filing of charges in the Court of Judicial Discipline, but the evidence suggests that the misconduct by the judge was an isolated incident or first-time infraction.’

The letter added that the decision to issue a letter instead of filing charges took into account ‘evidence of genuine remorse, such as Judge Grine’s present willingness to accept public responsibility for his actions, which resulted in public criticism of the Centre County judiciary…’

Disciplinary counsel have said that the day after a conviction in a May 2014 case in which the defendant was out on bail pending sentencing, Parks Miller sent 15 text messages to the presiding judge, Grine, which were deleted and only the first 30 characters could be recovered. Six specifically related to the case, according to the petition.

One of those partially recovered text messages began ‘As part of restitution you should…’ and Grine did ultimately impose restitution as part of the sentence, disciplinary counsel said.

In the letter of counsel, the Judicial Conduct Board wrote that as Grine was going through a divorce between 2014 and 2015, he had a ‘support relationship’ with Parks Miller that involved text messages and phone calls to discuss personal matters. Grine had a past friendship with Parks Miller when they were both practicing private attorneys and Parks Miller represented Grine during his first divorce, according to the letter.

Parks Miller continued to present matters to Grine in court but neither disclosed the existence of a support relationship, chief counsel Robert A. Graci wrote in the letter.

After cell phone records of Parks Miller and others were sought in a Right to Know case, Grine did acknowledge past interactions with the DA. But, Graci wrote, the personal relationship could lead to a charge that Grine’s impartiality could reasonably be questioned and that he was subject to improper influence.

The board concluded that Grine ‘ran afoul’ of several provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Pennsylvania Constitution.

On Tuesday, Grine signed a consent to resolve the matter through a letter of counsel, acknowledging that the board’s investigation could be used if another complaint arises. He also agreed to make the letter public.