By Mallory Lane
BELLEFONTE, CENTRE COUNTY – It’s the first time some Centre County judges, the county administrator, the district attorney and other elected officials are squaring off in court.A hearing on lawsuits filed by Magisterial District Judge Kelly Gillette Walker and Court of Common Pleas Judge Johnathan Grine was held Thursday in Centre County Court.
The two judges are arguing that the county and some local attorneys violated the state’s Right to Know law by releasing their personal cell phone records in response to Right to Know requests.
Thursday, both judges testified, saying by releasing this information, they and their families and friends have been put in danger and said now, the public is drawing conclusions about conversations they allegedly had with other members of the judiciary, including the district attorney.
Gillette Walker and Grine both argued there is no proof these calls were significant, as both were regarding personal matters, not matters of the court.
County attorneys maintain they have the authority to release this information under the Right to Know law because they are financial records belonging to the county, since they are county-provided cell phones.
County Administrator Tim Boyde testified Thursday as well as President Judge Tom Kistler and District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller.
Some of the testimony between Boyde and Kistler seemed to contradict each other. Boyde said he went through Kistler to respond to these Right to Know requests and Kistler testified that he wanted to be hands off and wanted an out of county judge to handle it.
“It’s very unusual that the county chief executive and the county’s top judge testified in opposition of each other,” Bruce Castor, attorney for Parks Miller, said. “One said the court gave him permission and the other said I didn’t do anything of the sort. That’s pretty amazing stuff to hear come out in the court of law.”
The other argument came from some attorneys who were sued in the case.
Counsel for McShane Law Firm said this case is about the First Amendment and freedom of speech. They argued the judges violated their clients right to free speech by filing the lawsuit against them after they requested documents through the Right to Know law.
“This is completely sad. I’m not from this community. There is a black cloud over this community and the only way that it gets better is by way of speech, by public speech by revealing information instead of restricting information,” Justin McShane, of The McShane Firm said. “You have a judge who wants to restrict first amendment speech and that is absolutely tragic.”
Parks Miller filed a similar lawsuit, but it was not discussed Thursday.
The judge did not make a ruling Thursday. He wants counsel to respond to the First Amendment arguments made in court.
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