Jan 19, 2018 2 min read

Former Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky, who had been convicted of stealing cocaine from evidence in the county drug court he founded, has been disbarred from the practice of law in Pennsylvania.

The state Supreme Court Thursday ordered the disbarment of Pozonsky, who had sought a retroactive suspension of three to five years instead.

The high court said the disbarment, which takes effect Feb. 17, was warranted “to both protect the public and to preserve the integrity of the legal profession.”

Pozonsky, a former Cecil district judge, was elected as common pleas judge in 1997. He resigned without explanation in June 2012 after he was removed by former President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca from overseeing criminal cases.

He moved to Kenai, Alaska, where his now-ex-wife had family, and worked for nearly two months as a workers’ compensation hearing judge.

Pozonsky was charged in May 2013 with six criminal offenses related to his cocaine theft.

Investigators accused Pozonsky of stealing cocaine evidence after ordering police to bring it into his courtroom during several routine pretrial hearings.

In March 2015, he pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, theft and misapplying government property after a felony conflict of interest charge and other counts were dropped.

He was sentenced in 2015 to 30 days to nearly two years and served a month in jail.

While arguing against disbarment, Pozonsky, who also previously served 13 years as a district judge in Cecil Township and McDonald, described his post-conviction community service activites, which included volunteering at a homeless shelter and several community drug abuse rehabilitation centers.

However, Justice Debra Todd wrote, “When a judge’s actions undermine the public’s confidence in the honesty of the judiciary, it is not only that institution which suffers; indeed, our entire system of government, which depends upon the people’s respect for the law, is damaged.”