
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260678
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE TAKES STAND IN OWN TRIAL

General District Judge Joseph Campbell testified at his own trial, saying a court clerk altered the computer record of a traffic case against a prosecutor because she mistook Campbell's joking for a real order.

In 90 minutes of testimony Wednesday, Campbell told about how on March 24, 1989, the name of Paul A. Sciortino was changed to Anthony Paul Schortinoe on a traffic summons and in computerized docket information.

Deputy clerk Kathleen Baker "misunderstood what I intended," Campbell testified. "I can't understand why she thought I intended to do something like that. She knows it's not right. I know it's not right. I've even prosecuted people for altering public records . . . "

The trial revolves around a 20-minute hearing for Sciortino, who was represented by Virginia Beach lawyer A. Andrew Ege. The hearing in Campbell's chambers occurred four days after a wreck involving Sciortino, then the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney.

Before Campbell testified, Circuit Judge William Sweeney dismissed one forgery charge against the defendant, citing insufficient proof that he ordered the traffic summons changed. A felony computer-records forgery charge and a misdemeanor malfeasance charge remain.

Campbell, 61, who is on a paid leave of absence, testified that much of the discussion during the hearing was light-hearted and that the joking continued into the clerk's office.

"Andy Ege said, `Why don't we just dismiss it?' but he said it laughingly. I said, `Now look, the usual punishment is a fine and attendance at traffic school. Is that acceptable?' They indicated it was acceptable. Andy Ege said, `Does it have to appear on the docket? Can you leave it off the docket?' . . . It was light-hearted."

Campbell convicted Sciortino of making an illegal turn and sentenced him to a $60 fine, with $30 suspended, and attendance at traffic school.

Before he left, Ege cracked a final joke to the judge, Campbell testified, this time within earshot of the court clerks: "If his name is misspelled, you don't have to correct it."

Campbell testified that he replied: "Well, there are a lot of clerical errors."

"I told her to scramble and jumble" Sciortino's name as a joke, said Campbell, who has been on the General District Court bench for five years after serving as Norfolk commonwealth's attorney for 15 years.

Campbell said he saw Sciortino's name being altered, but he testified he assumed Baker was working on a computer file in a mode in which the record would not actually be changed.

"It obviously was changed, but I didn't know that," he testified. "In hindsight, I did a very stupid thing in making any assumption, but I did."

Sciortino, a Democrat, was running for re-election when he received the traffic summons in Norfolk. He dropped out of the race when the alleged records-tampering was revealed in April 1989. Sciortino has not been charged in the records case.

by CNB