By: E&P Staff A judge who once complained that a reporter from The Times-Tribune included his off-the-record remarks in a story should not be allowed to preside over a libel lawsuit against the Scranton, Pa., paper, its lawyers say.
In a court session last Friday, the newspaper's attorney asked Lackawanna County Judge Robert A. Mazzoni to recuse himself from the case brought by two county commissioners. All other county judges have already recused themselves, according to the Times-Tribune account by staff writer David Singleton.
Attorney J. Timothy Hinton Jr. said Mazzoni complained to the newspaper about former staff writer Jennifer L. Henn, who is a co-defendant in the libel case. Mazzoni met with an editor at the paper, and Henn was later reprimanded, Hinton said in court.
Mazzoni's complaint involved coverage of a county prison scandal, the same topic of coverage that prompted the libel suit by former Commissioners Joseph J. Corcoran and Randall A. Castellani.
They allege they were libeled in a January 2004 story about a grand jury investigating corruption at the county prison.
Mazzoni did not immediately respond to the newspaper's request he step down, instead asking its lawyers to lay out their argument in a brief by June 30.
"The libel case is not expected to move forward soon," Singleton wrote in the Times-Tribune story. "The former commissioners are pursuing a related civil action in an attempt to compel the newspaper to disclose the identity of a confidential source cited in the 2004 story."
The article noted Mazzoni ruled in June 2005 that the newspaper had to identify the source, a ruling overturned by Pennsylvania's Superior Court. The commissioners are appealing to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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