Skyline of downtown Philadelphia. Photo: Sean PavoneThree Years After Conviction, Ex-Phila. Judge O'Neill's Law License Suspended
Former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Joseph O'Neill has been suspended from the practice of law, over three years after he was sentenced to probation for lying to the FBI agents investigating case-fixing.
October 01, 2019 at 06:23 PM
3 minute read
Former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Joseph O'Neill has been suspended from the practice of law, over three years after he was sentenced to probation for lying to the FBI agents investigating case-fixing.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday retroactively suspended O'Neill's law license for a period of five years, with the start date of Dec. 7, 2016. O'Neill was sentenced to four years' probation for lying to the FBI in September of that year.
The indictment alleged O'Neill received a call from former Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters—who was convicted of case-fixing—asking him for favorable treatment of a small claims case involving Samuel Kuttab, who was one of Waters' political supporters.
O'Neill ultimately ruled in favor of Kuttab, and Kuttab later pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in connection with his role in Waters' case-fixing scheme.
When interviewed by the FBI on Sept. 19, 2012, about the circumstances surrounding Waters and the Kuttab case, according to the indictment, O'Neill claimed he had not received any calls asking for a favor.
The following day, O'Neill left telephone messages with the FBI, and when an agent responded, O'Neill said that no one had asked him to "fix" the Kuttab case, and if they had, "he would want to punch him," the indictment said.
O'Neill and Municipal Court Judge Dawn Segal—who was also alleged to have received calls from Waters asking her to "take a hard look" at a particular case—were suspended from the bench in 2016 for their involvement with Waters, who pleaded guilty to related criminal charges and was sentenced in 2015 to two years in prison. Segal has not been criminally charged.
The Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board filed disciplinary charges against O'Neill and Segal in March 2015 for failing to timely report the ex parte communications with Waters.
Segal was tried in the Court of Judicial Discipline, but the disciplinary trial against O'Neill, which was scheduled to start in January 2015, was continued that month, as word began to spread that criminal charges against him were pending.
The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recommended a five-year suspension of O'Neill's license this past August and the Supreme Court adopted that recommendation Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether O'Neill was represented by counsel in his disciplinary matter.
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