Staff writer
For 29 years, he has heard cases involving everything from overtime parking at a meter to murder.
But by about noon Thursday, District Judge J. Albert Spence will have heard his last case, although his official last day is June 30.
"Everyone knows when it is time to go, and it is my time," Spence said. "I have had my say in town; now it is time for someone else to shoulder the burden."
After winning the Republican and Democratic nominations in the 1979, Spence was appointed to the bench by Gov. Richard Thornburg to serve out the unexpired term of District Justice John Luongo.
Spence, 62, had been an administrative assistant to Austin J. Murphy while Murphy served in the state Senate and later in Congress. Spence, a native of Washington County, is a graduate of Greater Monongahela Area High school and Washington & Jefferson College, where he was a biology major.
"I first set foot in the city of Washington when I came to school as a freshman in the fall of 1964," Spence said.
When he started in office, robberies and assaults were the big crimes.
"But as time marched on, drug cases became more and more prevalent," he said. "Nine of 10 problems I hear are either drug- or alcohol-related."
His office, which covers Washington, East Washington and North Franklin Township, is the busiest in the county.
Last year, the office handled 7,999 cases, including 639 criminal cases. It also took in $163,849 in costs and fines. That money is sent to the state, county and local municipalities. He received a commendation from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts for having no adverse findings in the most recent audit.
He came into office about a decade after the state Legislature did away with the alderman, or squire, system. Under that, each precinct had its own squire.
"You figure I'm doing the job of 20 people," Spence said.
He has seen many changes over the years, including a change in title, which went from district magistrate to district justice and then district judge. When he started, there were 14 district justices. Over the last three decades, three of the offices were closed.
But the biggest change has been the technology.
"Gone is the carbon paper," Spence said. "Everything is computerized any more. We even have arraignments via video."
Spence said video arraignment is safer and more efficient on night duty.
With the thousands of cases he's heard over the years, one that sticks out is Roland Steele. Spence presided over the preliminary hearing after Steele's arrest in the brutal murder of three elderly women. Steele has since been convicted and is on death row.
Spence married hundreds of couples over the years.
"I married a couple at Phipps Conservatory where it was so hot, my glasses steamed up and I couldn't see," he said. "I've also married people in hospital rooms so a dying loved one could witness the wedding."
President Judge Debbie O'Dell Seneca said Spence will be missed.
"He and I practically started out together since I'm in my 30th year in the legal profession," O'Dell Seneca said. "I tried quite a few cases before him and worked closely with him during my four years in the district attorney's office.
"As president judge, he has worked well with me and the courts," she added. "He and his staff have made my life easier. I certainly wish him well."
Myra Rankin has been his secretary since he took office.
"I enjoyed working with him. We had a good, professional relationship," she said. "I'll be sorry to see him go. It will be kind of strange to come here on July 1 and not have him in his office."
Washington police Chief James R. Blyth said his department has had ups and downs during Spence's tenure as district judge.
"But it all worked out in the best interest of the public," Blyth said.
Spence said he worked to schedule hearings while officers were on duty so as not to cost the department overtime.
Unlike some retired district judges, Spence has no plans to seek senior status that would allow him to fill in at other offices.
"I'm just going to enjoy life and become a private citizen again," Spence said. "For all those who supported me over the years including my family, friends, colleagues and constituents, you have my eternal gratitude. To all whose who didn't support me or care how I ran my office, you can be sure I didn't care much either."
Senior District Judge Marjorie Teagarden will take temporarily take over the duties at the office on July 1. A new district judge will be elected in 2009.