Pozonsky trial date set Former judge accused of stealing evidence while presiding over drug cases
Paul Pozonsky
0524_LOC_pazonsky ¬ Former Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky heads into Judge Robert Redlinger's Washington County Court of Common Pleas
The corruption trial of the former Washington County judge accused of stealing cocaine evidence while presiding over several drug cases is set to begin in March.
Jury selection for Paul Pozonsky’s trial is scheduled for March 23, nearly two years after he was arrested on multiple charges of conflict of interest, theft, obstruction of justice, drug possession and misapplying entrusted government property.
Pozonsky, 59, remained free on $25,000 unsecured bond since his arrest May 23, 2013, and is living near Anchorage, Alaska, with his wife, Sara.
Visiting Senior Judge Daniel Lee Howsare of Bedford County is presiding over the case, but a courtroom was not yet selected for the trial, court officials said.
A pretrial conference between Pozonsky’s attorney, Robert Del Greco Jr., and the state attorney general’s office, which is prosecuting the case, is expected to occur later this month.
The start of the trial comes after Pozonsky’s lawyers unsuccessfully worked to have key evidence against the former judge tossed because they argued investigators did not have cause to search a safe in his chambers May 9, 2012. District Attorney Gene Vittone asked for and received an administrative court order executed by state police instead of a search warrant to retrieve the cocaine evidence from the safe.
State police accused Pozonsky of taking cocaine evidence in several cases and replacing the drug with other substances, including baking soda.
Howsare on Oct. 22 denied the motion by Pozonsky’s lawyers to have the evidence suppressed, allowing it to be included in trial.
Authorities said courthouse officials first heard in 2011 of “curious practices” by Pozonsky in handling of evidence in his courtroom, and the matter was eventually forwarded to the state attorney general’s office, which launched a grand jury investigation.
Questions about why Pozonsky decided unilaterally to have drug evidence in multiple cases destroyed against the district attorney’s wishes ultimately led to the shutdown of the drug-treatment court he supervised in May 2012.
He spent nearly 15 years as a Washington County Court of Common Pleas judge before abruptly resigning his seat in June 2012 upon being removed from hearing criminal cases after reports surfaced that he was being investigated by a state grand jury.