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Judicial investigators check latest report

Tuesday, April 02, 2002

By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Judicial investigators are looking into a second allegation that Judge H. Patrick McFalls Jr. dropped his pants in public.

A Shadyside woman yesterday told an investigator from the state Judicial Conduct Board that McFalls, a Common Pleas Court judge currently on paid leave, had removed his belt, causing his khaki shorts to slide down to mid-thigh and exposing the judge's buttocks on a public street.

The incident occurred as the judge chatted with an acquaintance in a car stopped near Ivy and Walnut streets at about 2:45 p.m. Saturday, she said. About nine hours later, McFalls was charged with drunken driving in West Homestead.

The witness, Val Norman, said she spoke with Bob Garrity, a retired FBI agent employed as an investigator for the judicial board, which is investigating misconduct allegations against the judge.

Norman said she noticed McFalls leaning into the driver's side of a luxury automobile and talking with a well-dressed, middle-aged woman.

The woman was stopped on Ivy Street behind two other cars and awaiting her turn at a stop sign. Norman said she recognized McFalls from a brief television interview he gave to KDKA reporter Andy Sheehan on Friday at a Shadyside service station.

Norman said the judge appeared disheveled. "Then I noticed that he was holding onto his belt. His belt was off of his shorts. He was holding his belt and his pants with one hand and in the other hand he had a bag from Prantl's Bakery. I kind of thought that this was odd. I couldn't figure out why he didn't have his belt around his shorts."

She said the judge bent over and his "shorts went down to about mid-thigh when he yanked them back up."

The motorist, Norman said, "yelled at him, 'Patrick, pull your pants up or you're going to be in the news again."

Norman said the judge replied: "Yeah, did you see me on with Andy Sheehan?"

The shorts kept falling down, Norman said, exposing portions of McFalls' buttocks. "People walked past and shook their heads. Traffic was backed up."

Norman said she telephoned police but told them she didn't want to press charges.

McFalls couldn't be reached yesterday and his attorneys declined comment.

On Feb. 14, McFalls was ejected from Casbah, a Shadyside restaurant and bar, after dropping his pants.

McFalls, 58, of Shadyside, elected to Common Pleas Court in 1985, was placed on administrative leave with pay Dec. 8, shortly after three former courtroom staffers filed federal lawsuits claiming he was frequently drunk while on the bench, missed work because of alcohol abuse and illegally fired them after they reported his behavior.

McFalls has denied those allegations, and his lawyers have moved to dismiss the lawsuits.

He was charged with driving under the influence on Saturday night at The Waterfront in West Homestead. He was arrested at 11:39 p.m., according to police, after leaving the bar in the Loews Waterfront Theater.

Police said McFalls failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a Breathalyzer test. He was held for 19 minutes, then released to the custody of his lawyer, Leonard Sweeney.