Allegheny County Courthouse With nearly 40 candidates running for nine open seats on the Common Pleas Court of Allegheny County, this election cycle offers a paramount opportunity to remake the county’s criminal justice system. Common Pleas Judges are responsible for overseeing trials for criminal, civil, and family cases and delivering sentencing. They can also be a part of doling out, or withholding, cash bail. Their discretion can reform the court.
Pittsburgh City Paper has chosen to highlight four different categories of endorsements and/or rankings for this year’s judicial candidates: legal, political, reform, and LGBTQ. The legal rankings come from the Allegheny County Bar Association and have four different results: highly recommended, recommended, not recommended at this time (which means candidates could be recommended later, but aren’t currently), and unqualified.
Courtesy of Nicola Henry-Taylor
It wouldn’t be an election cycle in Allegheny County without some complaining about the local Democratic Party apparatus.
But already the complaints this year are louder than in many previous cycles, with the unhappiness amplified by a wide-open field of judicial contenders – and by long-standing grievances about whether the county’s Democratic committee reflects, and responds to, the voters it will need in the future.
“It’s almost like there might be two different Democratic parties – a leadership that has a more traditional mindset, and a new world that is more inclusive,” said Nicola Henry-Taylor, one of nearly three dozen candidates for Common Pleas Judge.
Michael DiVittorio | Tribune-Review
An April 2019 shooting at the Monroeville Mall stemmed from a fight between two rival groups from McKeesport.
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
A man who pleaded guilty last year to firing more than a dozen shots into a Monroeville Mall entrance during a fight told an Allegheny County judge on Thursday he regretted his actions and he would do whatever he could to turn his life around.
Brandon Noel, now 23, was sentenced to 2½ to 5 years in prison by Court of Common Pleas Judge David Cashman for the April 2019 shooting that stemmed from a fight between two rival groups from McKeesport.
Paula Reed Ward
Courtesy Allegheny County Jail
Andre Crawford (left) and Marvin Hill face charges in the shooting death of Zykier Young of Spring Hill.
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Two men charged with criminal homicide in connection with the shooting death of a 1-year-old who was killed by a stray bullet in Spring Hill this summer will face trial.
Andre Crawford, 29, of McKeesport, and Marvin Hill, 41, had a preliminary hearing Friday before Magistrate Judge David J. Barton.
Following a four-hour hearing, they were held on all counts, including homicide, attempted homicide and gun charges.