The last time I saw my 26-year-old son, Gerald Thomas, was in Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani’s courtroom. The judge profiled and belittled him in open court, and needlessly extended his pretrial incarceration. My son died in jail shortly after. When I learned about the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania, which is supposed to hold judges accountable to the standards of ethical conduct required by Pennsylvania law, I immediately filed a complaint with the board.

“I’m looking at state prison for this young man who won’t quit embracing the guns and drugs street life … .”

This is what Mariani said about my son — a statement loaded with baseless assumptions. Gerald was incarcerated due to nonviolent criminal charges, which were all dropped at the time of this hearing. But Mariani didn’t want to release him. He told my son’s lawyer that he wanted to send Gerald to state prison unless his lawyer could prove that doing so would violate the law.

“He keeps wanting to be a street guy. I’m surprised he wasn’t driving something with 22s on it.”

Gerald was a bright young man with a promising future. He was a selfless son who would always check on me and listen to how my day was. He never forgot to say “I love you Mama,” even when he was in jail. He was a loving father to his four beautiful young children. But Mariani saw him as nothing more than a violent criminal.

“I have to put you in the cage, lasso you, corral you, stuff you because you won’t quit … .”

I was horrified to hear Mariani use such racist language so casually in open court. Talking about lassoing and caging a Black man is deeply inappropriate behavior from a sitting judge. It was clear that he had his mind made up about my son and was set on punishing him any way he could, irrespective of his guilt.

Mariani postponed the hearing for 30 days to give my son’s attorney time to come up with a defense for what should have been an easily dismissed probation violation. I watched as my son was escorted out of the courtroom with his head down. I’ve never in my life seen Gerald look so defeated.

Seventeen days later, Gerald died from a pulmonary embolism. I will never know if he would still be with us if he wasn’t incarcerated, but I know that he would not have died on the grounds of the county jail away from all his friends and family. He would have been able to hold his then-newborn daughter at least once. I believe Mariani is in part to blame for needlessly and cruelly extending his time in one of the deadliest jails in the country.

I filed my complaint with the Judicial Conduct Board on May 16, 2022. Shortly after, a local Court Watch program filed 62 separate complaints detailing similar forms of misconduct by the same judge. Seventeen months later, I was sent a brief letter stating that the board had voted to authorize a dismissal of my complaint and sent a letter of caution to Mariani about his conduct. It also stated that the matter was now officially closed and could not be appealed.

The Court Watch program received a nearly identical letter (the only difference was who it was addressed to) on the same date. Even though the program submitted more than 60 individual complaints, it was sent only one letter that repeatedly referenced its “complaint” in the singular.

When I received the board’s decision, I felt powerless. How could 63 complaints of misconduct from a short period of time be fixed with two letters of caution? The Judicial Conduct Board did not attempt to speak with me at all during their “investigation.” They provided zero transparency about their investigation process and they gave no basis for their decision. Why should the public have any faith in the integrity, professionalism or independence of the judiciary if judges are allowed to get away with this pattern of behavior?

Mariani retired from the bench earlier this year without facing any real consequences for his misconduct. He was given a slap on the wrist for dehumanizing my son, making racist assumptions about the kind of person he was and sending him back to that deadly jail. At the end of the day, I know Mariani is just one person in a corrupt system. I am more disturbed by the quality and lack of transparency of the board’s investigation.

The board should make public at least some information about judicial misconduct complaints, including how many complaints against particular judges are made, when the complaints are made, what kinds of ethical violations are alleged, whether the complaints were dismissed, what, if any, disciplinary measures were enacted, and how individual members of the board voted.

The public cannot be expected to place its confidence in a judiciary that is allowed to disrespect and belittle its constituents without consequence. The Judicial Conduct Board should operate in a more transparent, robust manner if it at all values judicial ethics and public trust.

Juana Saunders is the mother of Gerald Thomas.

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