Phila. judge accused of 'class favoritism'

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | Wed, Jan. 25, 2006 | By Jennifer Lin

[grjr21]

t's rare for Bill DiMascio, an advocate for prisoners, to argue that a criminal sentence is too light.

It's even more unusual for him to rally behind Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham - in his words, an "ultra-punitive" prosecutor.

But Common Pleas Court Judge Rayford A. Means has forced him to do just that.

Means has caused a furor with his handling of the sexual-assault case of Tracy McIntosh, a former University of Pennsylvania professor, who last year pleaded no contest to assaulting a graduate student and niece of a close friend.

Last March, Means sentenced McIntosh, an expert on head trauma and director of a Penn research lab, to 111/2 to 23 months of house arrest - deviating from state sentencing guidelines of three to five years in prison.

In November, Means paroled McIntosh, a father of two from Media who is married to a physician, after only six months of house arrest. Further fanning the controversy, the judge decided last Friday to let McIntosh leave the country for a temporary job in Milan, Italy.

"This is probably one of the most blatant cases of class favoritism within the criminal-justice system," said DiMascio, whose Philadelphia-based group, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, advocates the rights of prisoners.

"Clearly, this is a ruling that really makes a mockery of the justice system," DiMascio said. "He's skated."

McIntosh is an expert on head trauma and how it relates to the onset of Alzheimer's disease. His lawyer, Thomas A. Bergstrom, said his client needed the job in Milan to support his family.

But prosecutors will be back in court today to ask Means to revoke his decision and bring McIntosh home.

At the same time, the District Attorney's Office is appealing the house-arrest sentencing, arguing that Means abused his discretion by not imprisoning McIntosh. Means, prosecutors said, provided "only the barest of explanations" for deviating from state sentencing guidelines.

The continuing controversy over the McIntosh case has thrown the spotlight on Means, a 14-year veteran of Common Pleas Court.

Means, 54, was a career prosecutor who joined the District Attorney's Office in 1980 after graduating from North Carolina Central University's School of Law. According to city records, he became a deputy district attorney in 1988, working in pretrial victim and witness services.

Means was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench in 1992 by Gov. Robert P. Casey and was elected the following year with support from both Republicans and Democrats. The Philadelphia Bar Association recommended him for election in 1993 and retention in 2003.

In 1994, another sentencing decision - this time, involving an admitted thief and drug dealer - brought unwanted attention to the new judge. Means sentenced a defendant to a work-release program instead of prison, believing his protestation that he wanted to turn his life around. The man skipped the halfway house and was arrested again - for wounding his 2-year-old son with a high-powered rifle.

Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women's Law Project, said she had no objection to criminals' getting on with their lives.

The problem with the McIntosh case, she said, "is this man has never been punished for a very serious crime."

Mark Bergstrom, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, said a felony charge of sexual assault for a first-time offender would warrant a sentence of three to five years in prison.

Bergstrom added that there could be mitigating circumstances that would warrant a reduction in the jail time to two years, but that any further reduction would require a written explanation from the sentencing judge.

At McIntosh's sentencing last March, prosecutors presented evidence that the attack on his friend's niece was not an isolated case but a pattern of inappropriate behavior.

Means characterized McIntosh's conduct as "a string of unsavory, borderline criminal activity, taking advantage of people who work for you."

He added that McIntosh was "spiraling out of control."

And yet, in deciding a sentence, Means noted that McIntosh was "a credit to human society" who did not have to be "warehoused."

"Either you can do the right thing - invent medication and do experiments and save mankind and not run around destroying mankind as you are doing - or I'm going to lock you up in a jail cell," Means said at the time.

[grjr21]

McIntosh is an expert on head trauma and how it relates to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

This Judges mother must have dropped on his head a few times to many.

[Steely Tom]

Penn, which is insecure Philly's claim to hosting an "Ivy League" school, swings a heck of a lot of weight locally. The head-trauma research center mentioned in the story is part of HUP, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

[speedy]

I don't care much about Penn one way or the other, but I thought it has always been considered one of the eight "Ivy League" schools. If memory serves, it was founded by Benjamin Franklin. Like a lot of other things.

[Steely Tom]

Penn is definitely an "Ivy League" school. It was indeed founded by old Ben.