| ► Ex-Judge Michael T. Joyce of Erie, PA; money launderer, convict |
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Former Judge Michael T. Joyce of Erie, PA; money launderer, convict  
While sitting on the Superior Court Judge in Erie, Judge Michael T. Joyce was criminally charged with the following conduct.
Mike was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in favor of an Erie shopping center in a lease dispute with a tenant. Mike wrote the opinion and ordered it published as precedent, meaning it would serve as the “law” in similar cases in the future.
When Mike’s ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, it ruled that his opinion was “conspicuously bad law.”
The shopping center’s case rested on the testimony of Gregory Rubino, a VP with Baldwin Brothers, Inc. who helped manage the shopping center. The evidence shows that Mike and Rubino were former business partners and, by Mike’s own admission, close personal friends.
Persons connected to the Baldwin Brothers have given thousands of dollars to Mike’s judicial campaigns over the years. In a court transcript, Mike credited Rubino and another former business partner with being “largely responsible” for helping him raise enough money to get elected to the Superior Court.
What is troubling but not unusual, is the fact that the judges of the Supreme Court never took any action against Mike for engaging in an obvious conflict of interest. There ruling clearly established that Mike wormed his way onto the case and then wrote a ruling that was contrary to law that benefited his prior financial benefactors and friends.
At a later time, Mike found himself explaining to some cops why he drove the wrong way on a one-way street after leaving a tavern – causing a wreck that injured another motorist. What’s to explain? Mike was as drunk as a skunk!
In a lame effort at levity, Mike sued an Erie radio talk-show host for defamation. Mike claims the DJ, Randy Brewer, falsely suggested he illegally parked his Mercedes in a handicapped spot at Presque Isle State Park while he went in-line skating.
So what’s the big deal? Since Mike appears to be a practicing judicial drunk and scofflaw, doesn’t that qualify him as being handicapped or disabled? And what about being a judge, isn’t that an automatic disabling qualifier?
Eventually Mike was sentenced to 46 months in prison after being convicted of 8 counts of mail fraud and money laundering.
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