Federal appeals court upholds lower court ruling in favor of DA, judge
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Washington County’s district attorney and former president judge are immune from litigation after a witness sued them for holding him in contempt and jailing him when he refused to testify at a homicide defendant’s preliminary hearing.
The U.S. Third Circuit of Appeals last month affirmed the September 2024 decision that District Attorney Jason Walsh and Judge John DiSalle have prosecutorial and judicial immunity because their actions against Elijah White fell under the scope of their official duties.
White refused to testify at the Dec. 9, 2022, preliminary hearing for Keaundre Crews, who was charged with shooting and killing 29-year-old Jaisen A. Irwin outside Bob’s Tavern in Finleyville two months earlier. At the time, White was considered a suspect in the killing and invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. Crews was acquitted of homicide last month, and White, 27, of Donora, has never been charged in connection with the killing.
Walsh later pursued contempt proceedings against White and brought him before DiSalle during a hearing on Dec. 29, 2022. DiSalle held White in contempt and sentenced him to spend five days in the Washington County jail over the New Year’s holiday weekend.
White’s civil attorney, Noah Geary, appealed the contempt conviction to the state Superior Court and later filed a federal lawsuit against Walsh and DiSalle in October 2023. The State Superior Court overturned the contempt conviction in October 2024, less than a month after U.S. Senior District Judge David Cercone dismissed White’s federal lawsuit. Geary appealed the federal case to the Third Circuit shortly after.
The federal appeals court affirmed the lower court’s decision in its Feb. 19 ruling that DiSalle had “judicial immunity” and Walsh had “absolute immunity” in the process.
“No surprise,” Walsh said in a phone interview Thursday. “It’s absolutely meritless, just like the other ones.”
The court also ordered White to pay costs associated with the case.
Neither DiSalle nor Geary responded to phone messages seeking comment on the decision.