It was an interesting week,
to say the least, during the trial of a Pottstown man who was convicted of
sexually assaulting two women in the borough.
The trial took an unexpected
turn last Thursday when midway through an alleged victim’s testimony, a deputy
sheriff entered the courtroom and suggested through hand signals to Judge
Steven T. O’Neill that the judge should call for a break in the proceedings. Turns out
deputies discovered a suspicious, lone backpack setting outside Courtroom 5.
During these troubling times, unattended backpacks are never ignored,
especially at a courthouse, are taken very seriously by security officials.
So, Judge O’Neill interrupted
the testimony and asked all those in the courtroom if anyone inadvertently left
a backpack outside the courtroom door. As the witness, one of the victims, left
the witness box and began to leave the courtroom to see if it was her backpack,
one of the young legal interns in the gallery suddenly realized he didn’t have
his backpack and went to retrieve it.
I am sure that young man, one
of many college students serving internships with either the district attorney
or public defender this summer, got a lecture or two from sheriff’s officials and I’m sure
was a bit embarrassed by his mistake. What a way to begin your summer
internship.
Lesson to all interns this
summer: DON’T LEAVE YOUR BACKPACKS UNATTENDED IN COURTHOUSE HALLWAYS!
When the trial got back on
track, and every day thereafter, Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood
and defense lawyer R. Emmett Madden ferociously presented their cases to the
jurors each day and often challenged and interrupted each other with
“Objection!” during their questioning of witnesses.
While Ringwood and Madden
were staunch competitors it was obvious it wasn’t personal and the two enjoyed
some friendly banter during downtime at the trial and when the jury wasn’t
present.
“You two are going to miss
each other over the weekend,” Judge O’Neill quipped out of earshot of jurors
after he adjourned court on Friday, eliciting laughter from those in the
courtroom who witnessed the intense, sometimes contentious legal wrangling all week.
Finally, the trial marked the
end of the courthouse career of Judge O’Neill’s trusted court clerk Kevin
Frankel, who left Monday after more than five years of clerking to begin his
career as an attorney at law. Frankel, well known at the courthouse for his
sense of humor and ever friendly demeanor, has landed a job with the firm Banks & Banks in Lafayette Hill, where he will practice real estate and business
law.
When he began working as a
court clerk Frankel was a floater and worked with most of the judges in civil,
family and criminal court. But since July 2013, Frankel worked exclusively as
O’Neill’s court clerk, a full-time job while finishing his law degree at night.
“It’s been a great experience
watching cases unfold, watching justice be dispensed. I learned a ton,” Frankel
told me. “The most exciting moment was getting verdicts.”
All eyes were on Frankel last
fall when he took the verdict from jurors who convicted Raghunandan Yandamuri,
28, of Upper Merion, of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced him to
death in connection with the Oct. 22, 2012, fatal stabbing of 61-year-old
Satyavathi Venna and the suffocation of her 10-month-old granddaughter, Saanvi,
in an Upper Merion apartment during a botched kidnapping attempt. It was the
most high profile trial at the courthouse in recent memory and Frankel had a front row seat.
“That was a big verdict,”
Frankel recalled.
Frankel said he’ll never
forget all those he worked with over the years, adding “It’s a really good
community and I’m definitely appreciative to be a part of this community,
especially starting my legal career.”
“Judge O’Neill is great to
work for. He definitely cares about what he’s doing. The drug court he runs is
very impressive and he’s making a change in Montgomery County,” Frankel said.
O’Neill had some nice words
for Frankel too.
“He was a great asset to the
court. He will be sorely missed and I wish him the best of luck in his new
endeavor,” O’Neill said.
Ginny Womelsdorf, O’Neill’s
court reporter, said she will miss Frankel.
“Kevin gave us comic relief,
that’s what I’m going to miss the most,” Womelsdorf laughed. “Kevin was a part
of our family, worked his way into our hearts and I’m going to miss him a lot.
I’m proud of him.”
Fellow court clerk Monica
Pokorny, who previously worked in the Clerk of Courts Office, recalled Frankel
was a member of the Clerk of Courts Coffee Club.
“We got to chit chat every
day. I will miss his positivity. He was always positive, funny and always in a
good mood,” said Pokorny, who shadowed Frankel when she was learning the ropes of being a
court clerk. “He was very efficient, no wasted time, he was right to the point.”
Pokorny joked she also blamed
Frankel for the minor earthquake that shook the Philly region and the courthouse several years ago.
“I was sitting at my desk and
my chair moved and I turned around and I expected to see Kevin,” said Pokorny, recalling Kevin loved to joke. “I thought that he was shaking my chair. Turns out it wasn’t
Kevin, it was an earthquake. But I still blame him. It’s his fault.”
Best of luck, Kevin, in your
legal career.
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