Protection order granted against York County judge; state is investigating
A public defender has obtained a temporary protection from abuse order against a York County judge for allegedly breaking her elbow, but the judge's attorney maintains the allegations are false.
The state Attorney General's Office is investigating the allegations against Common Pleas Judge Thomas H. Kelley VI.
Assistant public defender Janan Tallo alleges Kelley, 47, pushed her down during an argument at his Heritage Hills Drive home in York Township Feb. 8.
According to her PFA petition, the two are current or former intimate partners.
In her petition, Tallo alleges that about 11:30 p.m. Feb. 8, Kelley started an argument with her over the phone and yelled at her. She went to his house, where the argument escalated, the petition states.
The petition alleges Kelley grabbed Tallo by her coat while she was seated, lifted her off the ground and slammed her to the floor, causing her to land on her back and arms and resulting in a broken elbow.
Tallo, 30, of Buttonwood Lane in Hellam Township, also suffered bruises to her back, thighs and arms, and went to a local hospital emergency room for treatment, the petition alleges.
The petition also alleges Kelley grabbed Tallo's arm during an argument in November and states there's "an immediate and present danger of further abuse" from Kelley.
Granted: The York County Prothonotary's Office confirmed Tallo's temporary PFA was granted Monday afternoon by Adams County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Campbell. A hearing on a permanent PFA must be scheduled within 10 days, according to the office.
York County President Judge Stephen P. Linebaugh said he issued an order Monday afternoon assigning the case to an Adams County judge, to avoid the appearance of any conflicts of interest.
Reassigned: Kelley has been pulled from presiding over criminal cases and is being reassigned to other duties, Linebaugh said.
"It would not be appropriate when there's a legal proceeding against a judge for that judge to be sitting on cases where the plaintiff in the proceeding and the attorneys from her office would be appearing regularly before Judge Kelley," he said. "I don't know that it's a permanent assignment. I'll revisit it after this matter is resolved."
Linebaugh said he will assign another judge to handle Kelley's criminal caseload, likely by the end of this week or early next week.
Kelley is one of four York County judges currently handling criminal cases regularly, Linebaugh said.
Linebaugh said it simply wasn't feasible to reassign only the criminal cases involving the public defender's office.
"That would be such a difficult task. ... It would be so labor-intensive," he said. "The practical, efficient and sensible thing is to have another judge assume those duties until this is resolved."
Apprised of relationship: Tallo had previously been representing public-defender clients at the preliminary-hearing level. But when her assignment was fairly recently changed to handling cases in county court, Kelley apprised both Linebaugh and Tallo's boss, chief public defender Bruce Blocher, of the relationship, according to Linebaugh.
"Bruce indicated it would not be difficult in the assignment of cases to have her assigned to other courtrooms," the president judge said.
In York County, judges' assignments are changed about every two years, according to Linebaugh, and Kelley was aware it was time for him to rotate out of the criminal division anyway.
Allegations 'false': Local attorney Chris Ferro is representing Kelley and issued the following statement Monday:
"We categorically deny the unfounded and false allegations that are contained in the recently filed, one-sided PFA petition.
"Judge Kelley has too much respect for the judicial process, however, to address these baseless allegations in the media. We prefer to address the matters in the proper forum and in an appropriate manner.
"We believe that once the true facts are brought to light, the judge will be cleared of all wrongdoing. Judge Kelley is a great public servant who deserves nothing more than the benefit of the doubt, and nothing less than the all-too-quickly forgotten presumption of innocence."
Tallo did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Investigation: Based on a referral from York County District Attorney Tom Kearney, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office will investigate the allegations, according to Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the state office.
"The first issue in any investigation is to determine the facts ... and follow the evidence where it leads," he said. "It's premature to talk about anything else until our folks have had the opportunity to review (the matter)."
Frederiksen said his office on Monday afternoon received Kearney's request to investigate because of a potential conflict of interest in the prosecutor's office.
Kearney would not discuss the case in specifics.
"Our office policy is not to confirm or deny whether or not an investigation is being conducted," he said. "However, were I to receive such a complaint, I would refer the matter to the attorney general, as it would be a conflict of interest for our office. ... We obviously have dealings with Judge Kelley."
York Area Regional Police Sgt. Rod Varner said his department received a report about the allegations, but referred all other comment to Kearney.
Referral 'appropriate': Ferro said asking an independent agency to handle the investigation was "the appropriate thing for the district attorney to do" to avoid possible conflicts of interest, especially since "the veracity of the seriousness of the allegations" is disputed.
Tallo's PFA petition asked that Kelley be ordered to temporarily relinquish his firearms, and Ferro confirmed Judge Campbell granted the request.
"That's a standard part of any temporary PFA order and no indication there's any specific concern regarding (Kelley)," Ferro said.
- Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com, 505-5429 or twitter.com/ydcrimetime.
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