Stevens, PA 17578
Joseph Madenspacher,
President Judge
Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas
50 North Duke Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
Dear Judge,
I am writing to ask you for an investigation into the failings of the court system, how you’re going to fix this failing and how this can be avoided in the future? I have also encountered some real problems with court employees as well as the Magisterial District Judges who supervise them with regard to accessing files.
I went to a scheduled hearing yesterday in the matter of a private criminal complaint that was made by Ben Vonderheide against an officer of the court, Rebecca Cheuvront, Docket MJ-02101-NT-0000221-2014. As you know, Rule 506 dictates private criminal complaints should FIRST be approved by the District Attorney’s office PRIOR to being docketed. If the DA’s office does NOT approve, according to Rule 506, they write the reasons down and return it to the person making the complaint. This permits that person the opportunity to APPEAL this decision to the Court of Common Pleas.
I learned that Magisterial District Judge John Winters and his staff, had various ex parte communications with DEFENDANT Cheuvront’s attorney and law partner, Bob Wee to have Mr. Vonderheide’s complaint withdrawn, prior to yesterday’s hearing and without Mr. Vonderheide’s involvement! Mr. Vonderheide’s complaint alleges that Attorney Cheuvront initiated a physical altercation as a direct result of Mr. Vonderheide’s attempt to expose the ugly side of the court system. That the ‘system’ would then conspire to thwart Mr. Vonderheide’s attempt to get justice for this assault on both his person and First Amendment rights, should trouble you.
Rule 506 forces the DA’s office to state their reasons for not permitting the complaint to move forward. Those reasons can then be used by Mr. Vonderheide to appeal the DA’s decision. By permitting the DA’s office to take over the prosecution and then withdrawing the complaint, Mr. Vonderheide has lost his right to appeal and to seek justice for the assault on his First Amendment rights! Rule 506 IS the controlling rule regarding how the District Attorney is to get involved in prosecution in a private criminal complaint. Applying any other rule takes away Mr. Vonderheide’s right to appeal.
Accessing court files under the supervision of the Magisterial District Judges is a universal problem from the experience of this reporter. While the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has CLEAR rules regarding accessing files, my experiences has shown that neither the judges or the staff they supervise follow or obey those rules. Yesterday, Judge Winters refused to let me have access to file until I phoned your court administration staff for assistance.
Amusingly or sadly, Judge Winters gave me one page at a time rather than letting me page through the files. While that’s certainly opposite of the experience I get in the professionally run Lancaster County,Clerk of Courts office where they hand me stacks of files, in this instance I am glad Judge Winters did it that way since it’s apparent that filings are missing!
The FIRST chronological document is YOUR order of February 25, 2014. There was ZERO paperwork with a date before then. While I wanted to investigate the District Attorney and the Court’s involvement in this thwarting of Mr. Vonderheide’s rights, I can’t do so when paperwork is gone! The NEXT document in the file is a letter from Judge Winters to Mr. Vonderheide dated March 11, 2014. While Judge Winters’ letter REFERENCES a private criminal complaint already filed, the earliest complaint in the file is dated TWO DAYS later!
Questions that I want answers to:
1) Where are the missing pages from the official file? (I want copies when/if you find them)
2) Did Judge Winters docket the complaint without RULE 506 approval of the Commonwealth’s attorney?
3) Judge Winters readily admitted his ex parte decision that thwarted Mr. Vonderheide’s rights that Rule 506 was to protect. As the president Judge, you are tasked to supervise this non-lawyer’s practices, how are you going to ‘fix’ this situation? (notes on the file itself also revealed the Judge/Staff conversing with defendant regarding the charges and their deposition weeks before they were withdrawn.)
4) When will the Judges and their staff receive proper training on file access by members of the public as directed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court?
Thank you for your prompt and thorough attention to this important matter.
Sincerely
Ronald P Harper Jr.
