This story was updated at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 17, 2020.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Mark V. Tranquilli resigned from the bench a day before he was set to go on trial for misconduct before the state Judicial Conduct Board.
Mr. Tranquilli’s attorney, Matthew Logue, confirmed the resignation Tuesday evening. He offered no further comment and said Mr. Tranquilli would not be making any statement.
The trial had been set to begin Wednesday afternoon at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Brookville.
Mr. Tranquilli was facing multiple counts of misconduct. Among the charges, an assistant district attorney had alleged the judge called a juror “Aunt Jemima” during a post-trial conference.
“You weren’t out of strikes when you put Aunt Jemima on the jury,” the judge allegedly said, according to a complaint filed by the conduct board. The comments garnered widespread media coverage in February.
Mr. Tranquilli, in a letter sent to his colleagues earlier this year, disputed this version of events and said he was trying to recall the word “kerchief” but couldn’t pull it up from his memory.
“When the prosecutor asked which juror I was inquiring about during this discussion, I quickly indicated the one ‘with the Aunt Jemima’ on her head,” the letter reads. “I focused on an article of clothing that we could all see to distinguish between the two adjacent jurors.”
But Mr. Tranquilli did not deny that he speculated the woman had a “baby daddy” who was dealing drugs. “In retrospect, my words were pejorative and offensive — in any context,” he wrote. “I should have known better. I should have done better. I am truly sorry I said them and for the harm my words have caused.”
The allegations of racist remarks were among multiple charges of misconduct brought by the Judicial Conduct Board. Mr. Tranquilli is also alleged to have asked another defendant, who had children out of wedlock whether she knew the phrase, “If you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.”
“So now you have laid down twice with dogs, but you have woken up with two lovely children, probably two lovely children I’m betting you were probably not planning on,” the complaint from the conduct board says. “And for the cost of three shiny quarters in any bathroom in any rest stop in Pennsylvania, you probably could have gone a different direction.”
Another claim says he used Ebonics when speaking with a pair of Black parents in a custody conciliation hearing, and further charges allege he referred to a juror as a “knucklehead” during a post-trial conference.
Mick Stinelli: mstinelli@post-gazette.com; 412-263-1869; and on Twitter: @MickStinelli.
First Published: November 17, 2020, 9:26 p.m.
