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'''Bruce L. Castor, Jr.''' (born October 24, 1961) is an American lawyer and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician from [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery County]], [[Pennsylvania]]. Castor was District Attorney of Montgomery County from 2000 to 2008, when he took a seat on the Montgomery County [[Board of Commissioners]]. In addition to his governmental role, Castor is a shareholder and director of the [[Blue Bell, Pennsylvania|Blue Bell]]-based litigation firm of Elliott, Greenleaf & Siedzikowski. |
'''Bruce L. Castor, Jr.''' (born October 24, 1961) is an American lawyer and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician from [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery County]], [[Pennsylvania]]. Castor was District Attorney of Montgomery County from 2000 to 2008, when he took a seat on the Montgomery County [[Board of Commissioners]]. In addition to his governmental role, Castor is a shareholder and director of the [[Blue Bell, Pennsylvania|Blue Bell]]-based litigation firm of Elliott, Greenleaf & Siedzikowski. |
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==Legal career== |
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===Tenure as Montgomery County District Attorney=== |
===Tenure as Montgomery County District Attorney=== |
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Revision as of 08:52, 14 October 2012
Bruce L. Castor, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners | |
| Assumed office January 7, 2008 Serving with Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards | |
| Preceded by | Tom Ellis |
| District Attorney of Montgomery County | |
| In office January 3, 2000 – January 7, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Marino |
| Succeeded by | Risa Vetri Ferman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 24, 1961 |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Elizabeth |
| Children | Two |
| Alma mater | Lafayette College Washington and Lee University |
| Profession | Attorney, Politician |
Bruce L. Castor, Jr. (born October 24, 1961) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Castor was District Attorney of Montgomery County from 2000 to 2008, when he took a seat on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. In addition to his governmental role, Castor is a shareholder and director of the Blue Bell-based litigation firm of Elliott, Greenleaf & Siedzikowski.
Tenure as Montgomery County District Attorney
Castor became District Attorney in January 2000.[1]
Notable cases
- Bill Cosby - Castor declined to prosecute Cosby for sexual assault in 2005 after he found "insufficient, credible and admissible evidence exists upon which any charge against Mr. Cosby could be sustained beyond a reasonable doubt." [2]
- Dillon Cossey - Planned a Columbine-style attack on a local high school. Cossey was convicted in juvenile court.[3]
- John Eichinger - The most prolific serial killer documented in Montgomery County history. Eichinger murdered three young women and a small child. Two of the women had rejected his sexual advances and the other woman and child were witnesses. Eichinger received three death sentences and one sentence of life in prison. The case formed the basis for the production of a pilot for a television show based on Castor's career called "Probable Cause."
- Caleb Fairley - sexually assaulted and murdered a mother and her child in his parents' shop, serving a double life sentence.[4]
- Bruce Godschalk - A man convicted of rape in 1987 (before Castor was elected) was freed in 2002 after DNA tests cast doubt on his guilt. Castor, who was under no legal obligation, originally would not offer DNA testing. Godschalk filed a lawsuit against the county which was settled for approximately $1 million though Castor was dismissed as a defendant. The United States Supreme Court in June, 2009 in another case, ruled that Castor's interpretation of the law relating to DNA testing was correct after all.[5][6][7][8]
- Craig Rabinowitz - murdered his wife to elope with a stripper. This case is the subject of multiple television programs and a book by Ken Englade called Everybody's Best Friend. He is serving a life sentence.[9][10]
- Rafael Robb - University of Pennsylvania professor of Game Theory accused of murdering his wife in a rage. Pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. The case is the subject of a book entitled "Cruel Games" by Rose Ciotta detailing Robbs efforts to use his professional training in creating predetermined outcomes by a series of false clues (dubbed "Game Theory") pitting himself against professional homicide investigators led by Castor. Castor uttered the oft quoted line "Professor Robb may be smarter than us, but he still is an amateur killer and we are professional catchers of killers."[11]
- Guy Sileo - murdered his business partner in the General Wayne Inn, serving a life sentence for first degree murder. A highly circumstantial case, the "General Wayne Inn" murder has been the subject of numerous television portrayals.[4]
Attorney General Race
Castor ran for the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2004 against Republican Tom Corbett. Furious that he had lost endorsements of the southeastern GOP chairmen, Castor attacked Corbett and the county chairmen with allegations of backroom deals with Bob Asher,[12] the state's national GOP committeeman.[13][14] Castor and Asher had feuded for several years and Asher's prior felony convictions for bribery, racketeering, and conspiracy in 1986 became a subject of the campaign.[13][15]
Castor was unable to produce proof of any conspiracy against him and ran without the party endorsement in all but two counties, his home base in Montgomery County and Monroe County. Castor lost 52.8% to 47.2%, despite winning overwhelmingly the same southeastern counties whose chairmen had repudiated him, and his home in Montgomery County, where he took nearly 82.5% of the vote.[16][17]
Private Practice
When his term as District Attorney expired in January 2008, Castor took a position at the Blue Bell, PA based litigation firm of Elliott, Greenleaf & Siedzikowski as a shareholder and director. One of his notable clients included Marko Jaric of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies who was accused of sexual assault in Philadelphia. Jaric was not charged in the case.[18]
Montgomery County Commissioner
In 2007, Castor challenged incumbent County Commissioner Tom Ellis, a one-time friend who had chaired Castor's campaigns in 1999 and 2003 but endorsed Corbett in 2004.[19] Early in the campaign, Castor commissioned a poll showing that Ellis, who had been hobbled by negative press surrounding an alleged domestic violence incident, would lose in a general election.[20] Ellis released his own poll to try to refute Castor's charges that he was unelectable.[21] In a six candidate field, Castor won the endorsement on the first ballot, but his preferred running mate, former State Representative Melissa Murphy Weber, was narrowly defeated by incumbent Jim Matthews on the second ballot.
Initially, Castor was reluctant to run with Matthews saying he believed Matthews was "untrustworthy". However, amid widespread pressure that he would be spliting the party, Castor relented and ran with Matthews against former Democratic Congressman Joe Hoeffel and incumbent commissioner Ruth Damsker in the general election.[22] During the campaign, some of Castor's earlier criticism of Matthews was raised by the Democrats, including financial support to Matthews from Bob Asher. Over Castor's objections, Matthews set up a separate campaign account from the Matthews/Castor account in order to collect contributions from Asher.[23] On election day, Castor won, taking first place in the general election. His running mate placed third, giving the GOP control of the commission. This was the first time in at least 140 years that a Republican failed to capture both the first and the second spot. Castor and Matthews served with Hoeffel, who finished second.[24] It was a rocky relationship with all Castor's earlier predictions about Matthews being "untrustworthy" coming true. Matthews and Hoeffel sided against Castor to set county policy. Castor responded by repeatedly making allegations of corruption against his fellow commissioners charging mismanagement of county finances, the hiring of unqualified people, and in the conduct of county business. A subsequent grand jury report found questionable behavior on Hoeffel's part for his participation in discussing county business at private breakfast meetings held with Matthews and senior aides–an alleged violation of state Sunshine laws. However, unlike Matthews, who was later alleged to have perjured himself while testifying to the grand jury,[25] Hoeffel was never charged with criminal wrongdoing.[26][27]
On November 8, 2011, Shapiro, Richards, and Castor were elected, marking the first time in county history Democrats controlled two of the three seats on the Board of Commissioners.[28] Shapiro was elected Chairman unanimously on nomination from Castor. All three members of the commission later noted the improved level civility and functionality on the board, with Castor expressing pride in working with Shapiro and Richards.[29] The relationship amongst the three Commissioners later prompted one Philadelphia Inquirer columnist to note that she owed Castor an apology for considering his complaints about the prior county administration "sour grapes".[30]
References
- ^ Marcovitz, Hal (January 3, 2000). "County Commissioners, Others to be Sworn In". The Allentown Morning Call. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
- ^ Prosecutors end Cosby investigation, CNN, 2/22/05
- ^ Dale, MarieClaire (2007-10-26). "Teen Admits School-Assault Plot". Associated Press, Carried at abcnews.com. Retrieved 2008-07-19. [dead link]
- ^ a b Families, friends of victims give support to candidate, Pottstown Mercury 4/24/04
- ^ CNN:Crime
- ^ Maurice Possley and Steve Mills, In depth: Crimes go unsolved as DNA profiles not sent to FBI, Chicago Tribune, Reprinted in St. Augustine Record, 10/6/04
- ^ Sara Rimer, Convict’s DNA Sways Labs, Not a Determined Prosecutor, New York Times, Reprinted at www.crimlaw.com, 10/6/02
- ^ Caleb Fairley Case, Crimelibrary.com Caleb Fairley case at crimelibrary.com
- ^ Anne Barnard, Steve Ritea and Ralph Vigoda, Rabinowitz Admits Killing Wife - A dream urged him to `do the right thing', Philadelphia Inquirer, 10-31-97
- ^ Husband guilty of murder - obsession with stripper led to strangulation, Associated Press, 10-31-97
- ^ "Teen Ex-Penn Professor Pleads Guilty In Wife's Death". Associated Press, Carried at cbs3.com. 2007-11-27. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ^ Gibbons, Margaret (2004-06-04). "Castor backs Corbett in attorney general race". The Colonial. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Patel, Mary (2004-01-22). "Castor Roiled". Philadelphia City Paper. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ Erdley, Debra (2004-04-22). "Most still undecided on Corbett, Castor". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ^ "Editorial: A rare public dispute in ranks of the GOP". Delco Times. 2004-02-06.
- ^ Election Returns, May 2004, PA Department of State
- ^ Corbett, Eisenhower win in attorney general race, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/28/04
- ^ Chris Mannix (2009-03-13). "Grizzlies' Jaric not charged after probe into alleged sexual assault". Sports Illustrated, SI.com. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ Shields, Jeff (2004-02-07). "Castor formalizes run for Montco seat". Philadelphia Inquirer.
- ^ "Poll Commissioned by Castor Campaign" (PDF). PoliticsPA.com.
- ^ William Mulgrew (2007-01-31). "Ellis Backs Candidacy With Poll Numbers". The Bulletin.
- ^ William Mulgrew (2007-02-27). "Montco GOP Tries To Make Up". The Bulletin.
- ^ Margaret Gibbons (2007-09-24). "Dems want Asher money returned". Pottstown Mercury.
- ^ Jacob Fenton (2007-11-07). "Montco Republicans are winners". The Intelligencer.
- ^ Coughlin, Matt (July 18, 2012). "Ex Montco commissioner to serve probation on false swearing charge, but unrepentant". PhillyBurbs.com. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ Gibbons, Margaret (May 25, 2012). "Matthews' day in court could come on May 31". PhillyBurbs.com. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ DeHuff, Jenny (December 6, 2011). "Commissioner Matthews arrested, resigns as chairman". The Times Herald. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ Rawlins, John. "Democrats historically gain control of Montgomery County". Elections. ABC News. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
- ^ Roebuck, Jeremy (April 16, 2012). "Peace has come to the Montco commission". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
- ^ Heller, Karen (March 21, 2012). "Karen Heller: What's great for Montco also bit of a bummer". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 12, 2012.