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Ousted district justice escapes jail term
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Gigi Sullivan, the former district justice who was removed from the bench amid drug trafficking and corruption charges, was spared a jail sentence yesterday.
Instead, Common Pleas Judge Robert E. Colville sentenced her to drug rehabilitation followed by probation.
"We are extremely disappointed," said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for Attorney General Mike Fisher, whose office prosecuted Sullivan. "We argued vigorously that the crimes she pleaded guilty to warranted jail time."
Colville tried to dispel any indication that Sullivan, 39, got a break, saying he would jail her if she violated the terms he imposed, including that she remain drug-free.
"As I look at this, some people might think this is easy," Colville told her. "I think you're going to have an extraordinarily hard time with this. And if you mess up I'll send you to Muncy" -- a prison for women in Lycoming County.
Sullivan was sentenced to complete a drug rehabilitation program for her addiction to cocaine and heroin. When that is done, in late March, she is to report to a facility for female offenders.
Sullivan was district justice when she was indicted in October 1999 in connection with a drug ring authorities said was run by Donald Geraci of Penn Hills, owner of Cheswick Auto Sales.
Authorities accused Sullivan of providing favors to the drug ring in exchange for heroin, cocaine and prescription pills. They said she used heroin in chambers before presiding in cases.
Once, with state troopers waiting nearby for her to sign a warrant, Sullivan dialed her dealer to warn of imminent "dinner guests," their code for a raid, said Donna McClelland, a deputy attorney general.
"She made a mockery of her role. Anything less than incarceration excuses what she has done," McClelland said.
Sullivan had faced 20 counts, 13 of which were withdrawn in November by prosecutors.
She pleaded guilty to participating in a corrupt organization, obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension of others, bribery and two counts of conspiracy. She pleaded no contest to one count of forgery.
In a separate case that followed her indictment in 1999, Sullivan is serving two years' probation after pleading guilty to shoplifting. She also had a shoplifting arrest and conviction in 1982 in State College.
Sullivan, whose last known address was with relatives in West Deer, also is awaiting a preliminary hearing on drunken driving charges in connection with an incident Jan. 12 in West Deer.
Colville was Sullivan's boss as Allegheny County district attorney when she worked as an assistant in his office in the early 1980s. He became a judge in 1998 after 24 years as the county's top prosecutor.
Both of Sullivan's defense attorneys, Thomassey and Charles Porter, and prosecutor McClelland, once worked for Colville as assistant district attorneys. So did one of Sullivan's character witnesses yesterday, lawyer Robert Del Greco, who recalled the ex-district justice as an industrious co-worker.
"I think half the people in this room used to work for me," Colville said in court.
Harley, the spokesman for Fisher, said the office never sought Colville's removal from the case because it was believed he would be "fair and unbiased."
Sullivan, who has an 11-year-old son, already has spent 39 days at a clinic for addicts.
She lost her district justice's seat in a 1999 election after the state Supreme Court had suspended her.
Sullivan's father, Terry, told the judge that his daughter was preyed upon by people who took advantage of her sweet nature.
"My daughter needs help. She won't get that help in prison," the elder Sullivan said. "She will get it with more solid support from her family."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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