Attorney accused of fleecing clients competent to stand trial
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Delaware County personal injury attorney who claims he does not recall allegedly stealing more than $400,000 in settlement funds that were supposed to go to his clients has been declared competent to stand trial.
Gregory G. Stagliano, 61, of the 500 block of Chaumont Drive in Radnor, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft of services, theft by deception and receiving stolen property, all felonies of the third degree, as well as a misdemeanor count of unauthorized practice of law. He is additionally charged in a separate but related case involving insurance.
Stagliano was arrested in May 2017 after county investigators received a tip from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Investigators found that he allegedly followed a similar pattern of theft in each of nine cases by depositing funds meant for clients into his own Santander Interest on Lawyers Trust Account for personal use.
Senior Judge Michael Coll, who oversees the mental health court that handles competency cases, declared Stagliano incompetent earlier this year on the basis that he claims to have no memory of the entire period where he allegedly pocketed the money due to a combination of medications and a lesion on a lobe of his brain associated with memory formation. Coll has since expressed skepticism of that designation, however, and held a competency hearing Wednesday. Dr. Robert G. Thompson, an expert in forensic and clinical psychology, was the sole witness called to testify by Assistant District Attorney William Judge. Defense attorney John Hickey also offered reports from two other doctors supporting the incompetency ruling.
Thompson said he met with Stagliano in May and reviewed all of the available documents in the case, including medical records. He concluded that Stagliano does meet the criteria for competency because he understands the charges against him and is able to assist counsel in his defense.
Though Stagliano claims to have a total blank space of about two and a half years when the alleged crimes were committed, Thompson found his rational and factual knowledge was otherwise entirely intact.
“I could not find a deficit other than his claim of amnesia from some years ago,” said Thompson. “I could not find another deficit in his competency related skills and knowledge.”
Thompson added that it would be “very unusual” for someone to develop the kind of total amnesia Stagliano describes here, but even if true, there would likely have been some severe contemporaneous problems taking place at the same time.
Hickey noted on cross examination that Thompson reported there was no evidence Stagliano was deliberately misrepresenting his symptoms and that he believed the defendant was credible. Thompson also diagnosed Stagliano with a mild neurocognitive disorder, meaning some type of minor decline in an area like memory, language or the ability to read social cues.
Thompson addressed the possibility of alternate methods of retrieving forgotten memories, such as hypnosis and the use of a “truth serum” like sodium pentothal, but said there was no one on staff at his hospital who would be willing or able to administer those treatments.
Hickey has proposed that the combination of drugs and the lesion did not simply make Stagliano forget his actions, but physically prevented him from forming any memories during that time in the first place. In that case, Thomspon said, such treatments would not be useful at all, even if administered.
Coll additionally asked Thompson if Stagliano, while still working as an attorney, would be able to provide a summation of a case to the court at the end of a trial without the ability to make memories. Thompson said that he likely could not.
Hickey said during arguments that Thompson had found no change in Stagliano’s condition between January and May, which would support his continued incompetency.
Judge countered that Stagliano does fall within the definition of competent because he understands the charges and can assist counsel in his defense. He pointed to a motion Stagliano crafted on his own seeking Coll’s recusal, noting Stagliano reviewed notes of testimony, selected portions relevant to his position, and cited case law.
“That not only is the ability to assist in his defense – he is actually defending himself in this motion,” Judge said.
Coll denied the motion to recuse as well as another motion to transfer the case out of mental health court and set trial for Oct. 16. He also modified bail conditions and required Stagliano to turn over all guns in his possession to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office by noon Thursday.