Montgomery County Judge: "There are important lessons in this case..."

Judge Who Presided Over Hockey Assault Trial Addressed Two Men Convicted of Simple Assault Before He Imposed Their Punishments

Last week, all eyes were on a Montgomery County courtroom where two ex-Ridley Raiders hockey players were convicted by a jury of assaulting CB West players during a playoff game at a Hatfield ice rink.

Brock Anderson, 19, of the 500 block of Ridley Circle, Morton, and Jake Tyler Cross, 20, of the 900 block of Greenhouse Lane, Secane, remained stone-faced and didn’t react when a jury, after listening to several days of testimony and nearly 11 hours of deliberations, convicted each of them of misdemeanor charges of simple assault and conspiracy to commit simple assault in connection with their conduct during a 10:19 p.m. March 9, 2017, on-ice incident at Hatfield Ice on County Line Road in Hatfield during the Eastern Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey Association Regional High School “Flyers Cup” Class 2A quarterfinal game between Ridley and CB West.

Brock Anderson/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

After the jury was dismissed, the men, through their lawyers, indicated to Judge Richard P. Haaz that they preferred to be sentenced immediately rather than wait several months to learn their fates.  After a few brief arguments from their lawyers and from the county prosecutor, Judge Haaz, who presided over the trial, retired to consider the sentences he would impose.

Jake Cross/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

Everyone in the courtroom waited anxiously, wondering what Judge Haaz, who listened to all of the testimony and watched videotaped footage of the on-ice skirmishes that was submitted as evidence by prosecutors, would have to say.

As Judge Haaz emerged from his robing room to address the courtroom, which was packed by relatives and supporters of members of both hockey teams, the accused and the victims, you could have heard a pin drop. The judge faced Anderson and Cross directly and stated the following:

“There are important lessons in this case. Being a good teammate, being a good friend, and being a worthy competitor requires you to be respectful of your opponents and to the sport you play. Good friends should prevent each other from making bad decisions, decisions that get themselves in trouble and hurt others. In any group of friends, someone has to step up and say, ‘This is a bad idea. Let’s not do it,’ or, ‘We shouldn’t do it.’

No one stepped up among your teammates. No one showed leadership. No one acted as a role model or as a responsible friend for each other. And you two were designated as leaders. A good friend and a good leader steps up and says, ‘This is a dumb idea. We’re not going to do it.’

You’re going to find as you go through your twenties and go through college and as you go through life, you’re going to be surrounded by people who come up with a lot of dumb ideas for you to do and for them to do. You should be the one to say, ‘We’re not going to do it. It is stupid. We’re going to get in trouble, or someone else is going to get hurt.’

When you don’t do that, this is what results.

Montgomery County Judge Richard P. Haaz/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

One of your defenses in this case was that sucker-punching an opponent is an acceptable and foreseeable risk of playing ice hockey. The jury rejected this defense. 

I believe most parents would strongly discourage their children from participating in a sport where it was acceptable and foreseeable that their opponents were allowed, without warning, to strike a player in the head, hit them from behind, and to keep hitting them in the head when they were already down.

You disrespected the game of hockey and all of those coaches you had over the years who, presumably over the years, tried to teach you good sportsmanship. There is a line between genuine athletic competition and unlawful conduct. The jury drew that line in this case and found your conduct to be unlawful.

As a result it is my responsibility to determine the appropriate sentence based on the just verdict.”

Haaz went on to sentence each man to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service.

Anderson and Cross, who did not address the judge or the victims before learning their fates, left the courthouse with relatives and one of their lawyers without commenting about the verdict or the judge’s sentence.

Remembering "The Bureau"- A Personal Tribute

Those of us who were fortunate to know Margaret “Peggy” Gibbons were shocked to learn last week that the longtime leader of the Montgomery County press corps passed away - just months after her position was eliminated, a victim of downsizing in the newspaper industry.

Margaret "Peggy" Gibbons/Submitted Photo

Having worked side by side for 28 years with the woman who was known as “The Bureau,” her death prompted a rush of emotions and a flood of memories, too  many to count or share here. 

When I arrived on the courthouse scene as a fledgling reporter with only one year of experience in 1990, I was initially intimidated by the grande dame of the press corps and her sometimes gruff exterior. Her reputation was that she was the one who would get the scoops and knew everything about everybody.

But I studied her and her methods and learned so much about this profession and I will be eternally grateful to “The Bureau,” who as it turns out, I would learn, had the kindest of hearts underneath all that boldness. If she respected you and trusted you, you were fortunate to become her friend.

Peggy's trademark giggle that would erupt when a humorous encounter occurred with a subject or when an outrageous, inappropriate headline appeared in the paper, was a ray of light in the windowless, bowels of the courthouse basement that she called home for all those years. We laughed often.  

Peggy was the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the evening, consistent dedication to her craft. She is the only one I knew who each day would meticulously cut her clips from the newspaper, tape them to florescent paper and file them away - for safe keeping, for future reference, the keeper of the record.

Montgomery County Courthouse

In between assignments, the woman who appeared tough to the outside world, showed her softer side when she talked about her family, especially her nieces and nephews, who she adored.

And Peggy had "affectionate" names for all of the new reporters - and there were dozens - who passed through the courthouse press room during her four decades. They ranged from "The Bim" to "Hansel and Gretel." No one was offended, because if Peggy had a nickname for you, it meant you had won her over.

I was at times addressed as, "You Toad," but more frequently I was known as “Boy Hessler” to Peggy, right up until the last day she spent in the courthouse. But I was not permitted to address her as “girl” or “Gal Gibbons,” as I would sometimes respond just to get a rise and a scowl out of her.

"Peggy" Gibbons/ Times Herald "Courthouse Hill" Column Photo

“I am a woman," she would quip as she promptly set me straight on the subject. At a loss for words, I never had a quick comeback for Peggy’s zingers. 

Peggy always had the upper hand, whether she was addressing a colleague or grilling one of the subjects she was writing about.

Initially, we worked as competitors, I was with The Mercury and Peg was with the Times Herald. Later we worked as a team when The Mercury and Times Herald merged under the same news company. We became competitors again when Peggy went to work for The Intelligencer several years ago.

Whether as teammates or as competitors, during the nearly three decades we shared space in the press room, Peggy and I were usually side by side covering trials or press conferences.

While I never confessed to Peggy that she was a mentor, she knew it. That brings me to my favorite memory.

Over the years, judges, politicians, lawyers and courthouse workers would see us in the hallways or stop by the press room and say to me, in Peggy’s presence, of course, “Peggy taught you everything you know.” I would pretend to balk, stomp my feet in fake defiance and attempt to deny it.

Peggy’s classic response: “They brought me a boy and I made him a man.”

Laughter, naturally, ensued. Peggy was pleased with herself and as usual, I never mastered a comeback to that.

Memorial Card

Now, her desk sets empty and in the days since her passing there is a hole in my heart as I look in that direction of the press room. Things will never be the same here without “The Bureau.”

But rest assured, we will never forget Peggy.

Those who pass through the press room in the days and years ahead surely will hear endless stories about “The Bureau" and what she meant to us, an icon in the world of local journalism. One of a kind. 

My colleague Jim Melwert, of KYW News radio, and I, who are the sole remaining full-time occupants of the press room, will make sure of that.

“The Bureau” will live on.

RIP Peggy

Judge Rothstein Has Deep Roots To Norristown, "Truly loves this county," Colleague Says

One thing I learned during the swearing-in ceremony of Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein is that the new judge is deeply rooted to the Norristown area.

“She was born and bred in Norristown. Her entire career has been in Montgomery County. She truly loves this county and is part of its absolute fabric,” fellow Judge Carolyn T. Carluccio told the 200 people who packed Courtroom A for Rothstein’s swearing-in ceremony this week.

Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

Carluccio, who was selected to offer remarks on behalf of Rothstein during the ceremony, said she was “honored” to tell the audience about her friend and to offer a glimpse of the woman who became judge. Everyone in attendance got a history lesson, of sorts, about Rothstein's life.

“Growing up she attended Norristown and Plymouth-Whitemarsh schools. Her father owned a furniture store right down the street from this courthouse, Goldenberg’s Furniture. It was a landmark in Norristown, it was a place where every family in this area went to get their furniture,” Carluccio said.

 “She actually grew up on the 1400 block of Astor Street, which is not five to six blocks, again, from this very courthouse.”

Judge Carolyn T. Carluccio/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

According to Carluccio, Rothstein’s parents had purchased the Astor Street home from her grandparents.

Upon the death of Rothstein’s grandfather, when Rothstein was in 9^th Grade, Rothstein’s parents purchased a home in Plymouth Township to make room for her grandmother to come live with them.

“So the whole family then moved from Astor Street to the home in Plymouth, where Wendy then attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School,” Carluccio said. “Now history repeating itself – that very house in Plymouth, Wendy then went on and purchased from her parents and she lives there to this day.”

While Rothstein was studying at Temple University, she spent her summers working at the county courthouse in the Prothonotary’s Office “doing everything from filing motions to assisting litigants who were walking in the door,” Carluccio told the crowd.

“This was the beginning of Wendy’s professional life in Montgomery County,” Carluccio said. “Once she graduated from college, Wendy got her first job, she was a social worker in foster care at the Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth. And after working there about a year, that’s when Wendy realized she wanted to do much more. So she went to law school.”

Wendy G. Rothstein/Submitted Photo

Rothstein graduated from Temple University in 1978 with a Bachelors of Social

Work and obtained her law degree from the University of Baltimore in 1982.

“While in law school, although she was out of state…she interned, you guessed it, back here in Norristown at our very own legal aid office,” Carluccio said.

Upon graduating from law school, Rothstein broke the glass ceiling as the first female lawyer hired at Pearlstine Salkin, Associates, now known as Fox Rothschild, in 1982, where she worked for 34 years, including partner in the Blue Bell office. Rothstein was elected to be a judge in November.

Rothstein also was the first woman appointed as a municipal solicitor in Montgomery County in 1988; appointed by the county judges to serve as a discovery master in 2001; and appointed by county judges to serve as a Chair of a Board of View in 2013.

“Not easy feats back in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Carluccio pointed out.

Carluccio said Rothstein practiced law in five divisions of the courts – Civil, Criminal, Family, Orphans’ and Juvenile.

“I dare say there are very few people that can actually claim that. She has a stellar reputation in complex business litigation, commercial litigation, land development, zoning and condemnation matters,” Carluccio said. “She’s worked in many capacities in our Bar Association.

“So after all the work she’s done in our courts, it’s only a natural transition for her to finally serve this court in its ultimate capacity, as a judge on this Court of Common Pleas,” Carluccio added.

Judge Wendy Rothstein at Swearing-In/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

Welcome “Home,” Judge Rothstein and congratulations on your ascension to the bench!