New Lehigh County judges could shape courts for decade
Six candidates vying for three open seats
With three of the ten seats on the Lehigh County Court bench up for grabs next month, voters will choose the county’s next common pleas court judges from a field of five lawyers and one district court judge.
The new judges will replace two seasoned criminal court judges who retired last year and one civil and family court judge whose term expires at the end of this year. They will join a court working through a backlog of cases caused by the 15-month halt in jury trials in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When jury trials resumed in June, priority was given to criminal defendants in jail and then criminal cases in general, so a backlog of civil cases remain.
The three Democrats and three Republicans were selected in the primary election from a crowded ballot of nine candidates. All cross-filed to appear on both parties’ ballots in the primary election. If elected, they will serve 10-year terms before facing a retention vote to remain on the bench, if they choose. The current salary is $186,665.
The Morning Call spoke to the candidates about their experience and qualifications, how those would translate to a seat on the court and how the court could innovate to better serve residents and address social issues arising in the cases it handles. Their responses are summarized in alphabetical order:
Tom Caffrey
Caffrey, 59, of Whitehall Township, (R) is Lehigh County’s top legal officer and has served as a lawyer for the county in different roles for 33 years. As solicitor, Caffrey oversees a staff of 13 and advises county administrators on legal matters. He has also worked as a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, an assistant solicitor and a juvenile master, presiding over juvenile delinquency and dependency cases.
Additionally, Caffrey has also practiced law privately with law firms Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba and Norris McLaughlin & Marcus handling insurance defense, product liability and business matters. Since 1998, he has conducted a general law practice doing criminal defense and zoning work and serving as solicitor to a number of municipalities and commissions. He grew up in Allentown and graduated from Allentown Central Catholic High School, Penn State University and Dickinson School of Law.
Caffrey said his broad range of experience as a lawyer and judicial experience as a juvenile
master means that he is well qualified for the Lehigh County bench.
“On day one, whether I’m in the criminal court division or the civil court division I’m prepared to handle whatever case comes my way,” he said.
As a lawyer, Caffrey said he most enjoyed civil rights cases in which he defended law enforcement officers accused of violating a person’s constitutional rights but said his work in juvenile court had the greatest impact on him as he worked to identify the causes of their problems and point them in the right direction.
“It’s a very emotionally intense job at times. It’s the job that made me start thinking that I might want to run for judge at some point,” Caffrey said.
Caffrey said alternatives to jail such as substance abuse and mental health treatment and bail reform, to avoid incarcerating people solely because they can’t afford bail, should be high on the court’s agenda. Lehigh County announced the formation of a drug court last year.
“Jail should be the last resort. There are convicted defendants who need to go to jail for the protection of the community. But a judge needs to decide which defendants go to jail and who is a good candidate for diversion,” he said.
Tom Capehart
Capehart, 57, of Upper Milford Township, (R) is a partner at Gross McGinley in Allentown and has practiced law in Lehigh County for 32 years. He has handled a broad range of civil law matters and litigation in Pennsylvania courts and has also represented clients in U.S. Bankruptcy Court throughout the state.
“I’ll call myself kind of a dinosaur. While we live in a world of specialties, when I started to practice, you did whatever kind of work came in the door to make a living,” Capehart said.
That means Capehart has experience in business law, real estate, foreclosures and sheriff ’s sales, family law, land use, municipal law, workers’ compensation and estate planning and administration. He also serves as an arbitrator in Lehigh County Court for cases of less than $50,000 and in Allentown for benefit claims involving members of the paramedics union.
Born and raised in Emmaus, Capehart graduated from Emmaus High School, Dickinson College and the University of Akron School of Law in Ohio.
Capehart said his extensive experience in civil law would also apply generally to criminal cases and if elected he looks forward to helping reduce Lehigh County’s backlog.
“I think I would be able to delve into those cases and provide timely and reasonable decisions with the goal of reducing that backlog so that people have prompt access to the court,” he said.
While every matter before the court is important to those involved, Capehart said he believes family law cases have the greatest impact on lives, especially children, and require particular care from the judges who handle them.
Capehart said that one upside to the courthouse disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic caused is the broad adoption of advanced communication technology, such as Zoom. He said the ability to hold conferences and hearings remotely has made litigation more efficient for lawyers and their clients. As a judge he would be receptive to innovation and suggestions from members of the bar to make the court process even more efficient.
Zachary Cohen
Cohen, 44, of Upper Macungie, (D) is a partner at Lesavoy Butz & Seitz where he conducts business and general litigation and represents stakeholders in company mergers and acquisitions. In addition to his work as a litigator, Cohen served for 15 years as an arbitrator in state and federal court and represented children in juvenile court.
“That experience as well as litigating in 25 different counties has given me great perspective,” he said.
Cohen was born and raised in Allentown and graduated from the University of Vermont and Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, where he worked with the state justice department protecting abused children. After returning to Pennsylvania, Cohen worked as a law clerk to now retired Northampton County President Judge Robert A. Freedberg.
Although Cohen’s experience is primarily in civil law, he said he would welcome an assignment to the criminal bench.
“It’s where we protect our community. It’s where we try to assist people and help victims,” he said. “I would be excited to work in the criminal realm. I think that work is fascinating.”
Cohen said he believes Lehigh County Court should work to develop specialty courts to address social issues such as addiction or mental health that often lead people into trouble with the law.
“Often these issues are part and parcel of the crimes that are being committed,” Cohen said.
He added that would take collaboration between the judges and other leaders including the district attorney and public defender.
“I do feel well equipped to help propel us in the right direction,” Cohen said. “I think bringing some young blood to the bench would be a good thing.”
David Ritter
Ritter, 50, of Lower Macungie (R) is a criminal defense lawyer with a private law practice in Allentown who has handled cases ranging from minor drug offenses to large-scale financial fraud and capital murder.
Ritter served in the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office for more than seven years where he was head of the juvenile division and rose to chief deputy district attorney. He also worked in the Lehigh County Public Defender’s Office and continues to represent indigent defendants as a part-time public defender.
“I have been in a courtroom every day for the past 24 years of my career,” he said. “When I started with the public defender, on day two I was in the courtroom and never looked back.”
Ritter said his courtroom experience is what makes him a strong candidate.
“Having been on both sides allows me to see both sides of a case and treat all people with decency and respect,” he said.
While Ritter’s practice has been primarily in criminal law, he said he would be able to learn and seek guidance in areas of the law where he has not practiced. His experience running a courtroom as the leader of a team of prosecutors gave him skills that cannot be acquired any other way, he said.
“Those are the things you can’t learn out of a book. You can only learn those from experience,” Ritter said.
Ritter said that if elected he would initially be concerned with helping to address the backlog of cases, particularly those involving defendants who are being held in jail. As a criminal defense attorney, Ritter said he asks new clients two questions when he visits them in jail: “Is there a mental health issue and do you have a drug and alcohol problem?”
“Fifty percent of the people I encounter in jail answer yes to one or both of those questions,” he said.
While the county has started work on a drug court and has an ad hoc team of mental health professionals who work to connect defendants with resources, Ritter said he would push for a greater focus on mental health diversion.
Rashid Santiago
Santiago, 37, of Allentown (D) is a magisterial district judge whose court covers parts of center city and the west end where he has served since 2014. He has also worked as a law clerk in Berks County Court and had a private law practice for a year before he was elected. As a judge in district court, where all criminal charges are initially filed, Santiago said he has been involved in hundreds of felony and misdemeanor cases. He also has presided over civil matters such as landlord-tenant lawsuits and small claims. He graduated from Gwynned Mercy College and Widener School of Law.
“My reputation is that I am fair. I have a proven track record of judicial temperament and it’s on display every day in the public eye,” Santiago said.
Santiago said his district court on Hamilton Street sees a lot of traffic from people who may not understand the system, speak English or who are seeking help with a problem. He said it’s important for a judge to listen to the people who appear before them and treat them with respect and dignity.
“Regardless of the cause that someone is in front of you, if you treat that person with respect they tend to have a greater respect for the system,” he said.
As an Allentown native who attended Allen High School before transferring and graduating from the George School in Newtown, Bucks County, Santiago said he has a strong connection to the community he serves.
“I think it’s important that we have people in our community, in our courts, that reflect the broader demographics of the community and understand the plight of the community,” he said.
Santiago, the product of a single-parent household who said he overcame many obstacles, said he takes pride in adjudicating cases involving juveniles because he understands the challenges many children face and works to find the underlying issues that lead them into trouble.
“If they can learn from their mistakes when they’re 15 and not have to go through it when they’re 25 and possibly dealing with a criminal record, that can be beneficial in their development,” he said.
Maraleen Shields
Shields, 43, of South Whitehall (D) is an attorney at Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba where she is the first person of color to become a shareholder and a member of the firm’s health care and litigation and trial practice groups. She has also worked at Post & Schell, Stevens & Lee handling medical malpractice litigation and the Philadelphia offices of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr and Reed Smith where she worked in mass tort defense and commercial litigation. She had two congressional internships with Rep. John Larsen, (D-Conn.) and former Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).
Shields said her broad experience as a civil litigator will be a benefit to the court as it works to clear its backlog.
“It’s really important to have some civil litigation experience on the bench to keep things moving on that side,” adding that the skills are transferrable to the criminal side.
Born in North Braddock, Allegheny County, Sheilds was raised by her mother after her father died by suicide when she was in fourth grade. She graduated from Woodland Hills High School, which was created in a court-ordered desegregation merger. She graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio and won a full scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh Law School.
It was in high school, she said, as part of the school’s mock trial team that she became fascinated with the legal process of gathering facts, building a case and presenting it to persuade a judge or jury.
“What I love about litigation and drew me to litigation is that each case is different. You get a fact pattern and the law and it’s a puzzle you’re figuring out,” she said.
Shields said she decided to run for judge after learning of the vacancies and looking at the history of Lehigh County Court, which saw its first woman elected in 1985 and its first Latina judge, Anna-Kristie Morffi Marks, only a few years ago. Lehigh County has never elected a black judge. Shields said the combination of her civil litigation skills, work with the Pennsylvania Bar Association on continuity of legal services during the pandemic and her experience as a Black, Spanish-speaking woman make her a strong candidate.
“I cannot help but think that for women who were appearing in the court between 1812 and 1984 that maybe they didn’t feel the court was just when the decision-makers were always men,” Shields said. “I don’t think it’s much different for people of different backgrounds.”