Black political advocacy group asks Supreme Court to investigate Zappala's conduct

The Black Political Empowerment Project sent a letter Tuesday to the state Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Board seeking sanctions against Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. for a now-rescinded policy he issued last month banning his office from offering plea deals to a Black defense attorney.

Zappala issued an updated policy to his prosecutors Sunday — and released it to the public Monday — which he said canceled the earlier prohibition against attorney Milton Raiford.

Previously, Zappala said he issued the policy against Raiford to “to ensure that this office makes consistent, evidence-based decisions and avoids false claims of racism.”

On Tuesday, Tim Stevens, who heads B-PEP, wrote to the state Supreme Court and the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, which investigates allegations against attorneys in Pennsylvania, requesting they intervene in the matter.

“We believe it is time for Mr. Zappala to step down,” Stevens wrote.

In Pennsylvania, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel can initiate an investigation on its own if it learns of possible misconduct or by receiving a complaint from an individual.

Any person can file a complaint — whether they are a party to a case, fellow attorney, judge, client, defendant or just a citizen.

Attached to Stevens’ letters, he included a previous statement he issued on the matter.

“During this last year plus,where ‘Black Lives Matter’ has been on display across millions of television sets where we saw not only how African Americans are often treated differently by the police across this nation when compared to Whites, but also the health disparities between African Americans and brown people when compared with white people, the last thing we need in Allegheny County is to have a callous district attorney telling his staff to practice prejudicial behavior against every client of African American attorney Milton Raiford, or any other attorney, for that matter,” Stevens said.

“All one has to do is to review the percentage of Blacks sitting in the Allegheny County Jail when compared to percentage of Black residents who reside in Allegheny County to consider that there just might be some problems with the justice system of Allegheny County,” Stevens added.

Zappala issued an email to the deputy district attorneys in his office May 18, five days after Raiford said that the DA’s office is “systematically racist” during a plea hearing before Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani.

After the Tribune-Review reported the email’s existence, several elected officials asked that there be an investigation into Zappala’s conduct, and a group of state legislators from Allegheny County sent a letter to Zappala on Friday seeking the an end to the policy.

Stevens called Zappala’s behavior “callous, unethical and prejudicial.”