Turmoil stalks a longtime judge in Phila.

For starters, there's the visual: dangling earrings, heavy makeup, bohemian wardrobe, bright nail polish. When Richette's on the bench, ex-Philadelphia Daily News columnist Tom Fox once wrote, you didn't know if she was going to dispense justice or read your palm.

"Everyone has their quirks," says Stretton. "Sometimes I think law would be better if it had more eccentrics. She was always a very fashionable woman, dressed to the hilt."

That Richette's appearance would even be mentioned is sexist, some say. There are plenty of eccentric male judges, but their mien is not up for discussion.

Therapist Joan Morein remembers Richette from the 1950s, when Richette took piano lessons from Morein's mother in their Penn Wynne home.

Richette, in her 20s, made a strong impression on the young teenager. "She was not like anybody I had ever met. There was this magnetism and energy. She took over a room."

Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal, who describes Richette as "a beautiful woman who keeps herself immaculate," is quick to point out that she's been a friend to the gay community since the early '70s.

"She came to our events; she did speaking engagements. It was a very big deal. To my knowledge, she was the only judge who did."

It wasn't the first pioneering move for Richette - she was one of Yale Law School's first female graduates and one of the first female judges appointed to Philadelphia's Common Pleas Court.

None of it matters when you're up against bad karma.

"It's very strange," says Dave Glancey, retired chief executive officer of the Board of Revision of Taxes and former head of the city's Democratic Party.

"It's so frequent, it seems to be more than a coincidence."