Court

By Brian Wright O'Connor Nearly 50 years after leaving the University of Pennsylvania for Vietnam, Lt. Col. Mortimer Lenane O'Connor will receive a posthumous Ph.D. today in a ceremony honoring academic achievement and sacrifice on the field of battle. My father, who set aside his dissertation to lead soldiers in war, will be included in the Class of 1968, the year he would most likely have completed his doctorate had fate not intervened. Born in 1930, my dad grew up in the company of soldier-storytellers on Army garrisons from Manila to the Old West, and watched his own father and three uncles set off for war in Europe.

Philadelphia officials recently announced a new campaign to collect the staggering amount of bail owed by defendants who have missed court dates over the last several decades. The laudable effort is designed to impose greater consequences for failure to appear in court and to produce more revenue for the city. The millions of dollars in outstanding bail are a symptom of a larger problem: the troubling number of defendants who do not show up for their court dates. Our recent Pew Charitable Trusts study, "Philadelphia's Crowded, Costly Jails: The Search for Safe Solutions," found that about 30 percent of city defendants released before trial miss their court appearances.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican is pressing its opposition to gay marriage, insisting Saturday that children should grow up with a father and a mother after Italy's high court upheld a lower court ruling and granted custody of a child to his gay mother. In its decision Friday, the Court of Cassation said there was no "scientific certainty or experience-based data" to support the father's claims that the child's development was being damaged by living with his mother and her female partner.

Craig Jackson was just 15 when he shot at three West Philadelphia teenagers within a matter of days, police said, wounding one. At 16, police said, Jackson let loose another volley of bullets, firing at five people gathered on a North Philadelphia street. He hit two. Four shooting incidents. Eight targets. Three people shot. Lots of witnesses. A slam dunk? Not exactly. In fact, by the time Assistant District Attorney Peter Erdely was assigned the Jackson file, the entire prosecution was in deep trouble.

WHAT'S WITH Philadelphia Family Court? The city is pleading with fathers to have more of an active role in raising their children, but when a loving father goes to court to have time with his child, to be part of the child's life, the court allows him two visits per month. What's wrong with this picture? How does a father have an active role in a child's life with two days out of a month? I'm willing to listen to any rational explanation of this; however, there are none. Kathleen Ludy, Philadelphia

The Feb. 2 editorial following the Inquirer series "Disorder in the court" offered a four-point mandate for reform: merit selection of judges, strengthening the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, a more reform-minded bar association and, finally, public participation in a court-watching program. The Citizens Crime Commission supports that agenda, and I agree with your basic contention that, unless this is the kind of judiciary we want, "the constituencies must join together to demand change now. " However, I take issue with your statement that court watching has not been tried here.

Steve Sader advanced to the quarterfinals of the National B Court Tennis Championship with a 10-2 victory over fellow Philadelphian Bill Diamond yesterday at the Racquet Club. All matches in the 18-player field consisted of one 10-game set because the facility has only one court. Sader performed soundly, keeping the ball well in play and hitting it to best advantage. He moved from 1-1 to 5-1 and ran out from 5-2. Harry Hare of Philadelphia also gained the quarterfinals by defeating Steve Poskanzer of Boston, 10-6, after putting out Barney Tanfield of Philadelphia, 10-1.

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York yesterday upheld a lower-court decision against baseball club owners, making it unlikely there will be any changes in the sport's economic system this winter. In a 3-0 vote, the court ruled that the owners' Player Relations Committee tried to illegally eliminate free agency, salary arbitration, and the anti- collusion provisions of the expired collective-bargaining agreement. "The unilateral elimination of free agency and salary arbitration followed by just three days a promise to restore the status quo," Judge Ralph Winter wrote.

PHILADELPHIA's court system, the First Judicial District, is enacting reforms to make it easier for people to challenge court debts they believe are inaccurate. Legal advocates say the changes, scheduled to take effect in about six weeks, will give poor people a better chance at fighting debts. Last year, court officials announced plans to crack down on debtors, who owed the district a combined total of about $1.5 billion in forfeited bail, restitution and other court costs.

Joe Altman defeated third-seeded David Jespersen, the 1994 titleholder, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the third round of the Philadelphia Clay Court Tennis Championship last night at the Cynwyd Club. Altman, a Lancaster Catholic High School graduate about to enter William and Mary College, now faces an Audubon schoolboy, Adam Seri. Top-seeded Young Min Kwon, pro at Eastern Racquet Club in Medford, N.J., and a former champion, fought uphill to go ahead, 1-6, 6-4, 5-2, against George Zink, also of Lancaster, when fading light at 8:45 p.m. caused them to break off action.

LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson won a small victory on Tuesday when he returned to court for Day 2 of his attempt to win a new trial in his robbery case: A judge said he could have one hand unshackled to drink water and take notes. Simpson managed a smile and a waist-high wave with his shackled hand as he entered the courtroom and found friends and family members in the audience. Simpson's attorneys then persuaded Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell to let the former football star and TV pitchman have his right hand free.

PHILADELPHIA Traffic Court is closer to extinction after just one Democrat voted yesterday to save the controversial agency. The state House's Judiciary Committee voted to approve two pieces of legislation designed to abolish the court. The full House will now consider the two bills, passed unanimously by the state Senate in February, just days after nine current or former Traffic Court judges were charged in a huge scheme to fix tickets as political favors. One of the bills, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Delaware County Republican, eliminates three vacant Traffic Court seats for which candidates are competing in Tuesday's primary election.

Perennial candidate Warren Bloom pulled the top ballot position for Philadelphia Traffic Court in Tuesday's primary. Which is troubling because, six years ago, Willie Singletary was first on the ballot and, despite being spectacularly unsuited, won the job. Bloom is the poster candidate for why voters are wretchedly served by this multicar crack-up of an institution. Nine former "judges" on this "court," including Singletary, were charged last fall with conspiracy and fraud for fixing tickets.

LEROY FISHER recalled the good ol' days for Hunting Park yesterday. "When I was a child, it was a wonderful place," said Fisher, 42, president of Hunting Park United. "It had the carousel, the playground and the pool. It was a nice place to go. " But then, the bad ol' days of crime hit hard starting in the mid-1980s. "The park was not an attractive place," said Fisher, a school-bus driver. "There was a lot of drug use and prostitution. It wasn't a safe park. They didn't have good lighting.

TRENTON - In a case with wide implications for Shore restoration following Hurricane Sandy, the state Supreme Court heard an appeal Monday of a $375,000 jury award to a Long Beach Island couple who said construction of a barrier dune in 2010 deprived them of their ocean view. The Army Corps of Engineers built a 22-foot-high dune for storm protection in front of Phyllis and Harvey Karan's house after Harvey Cedars condemned a portion of their beach five years ago. A Superior Court jury awarded the couple damages in 2011, finding that the dune construction, while benefiting many of the surrounding homeowners, had substantially diminished the value of the Karans' $1.9 million home.

LAS VEGAS - The shackles and blue prison garb seemed to weigh down O.J. Simpson as he returned to a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday to ask for a new trial in the armed robbery-kidnapping case that sent him to prison in 2008. Looking grayer and heavier, the 65-year-old former football star and TV pitchman was flanked by guards as he nodded and raised his eyebrows to acknowledge people he recognized in the audience. A marshal had warned onlookers not to try to communicate with Simpson, and no words were exchanged.

The Supreme Court needs to decide whether an inherited individual retirement account is protected from the claims of creditors in bankruptcy because U.S. circuit courts of appeal are now divided on the issue. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook, on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, disagreed last month with an opinion last year from the Fifth Circuit appeals court in New Orleans. Easterbrook concluded that inherited IRAs are not exempt in bankruptcy. An IRA funded by someone's own contributions is immune from creditors' claims in bankruptcy.

HARRISBURG — After a protracted legal battle, the state Supreme Court upheld Pennsylvania's latest legislative redistricting plan, saying the new maps comply with the state constitution. The court ordered the revised maps to take effect for the next statewide round of legislative elections in 2014. The redrawn maps had been the subject of more than a dozen legal challenges, from state Senate Democrats as well as residents in Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. Those groups argued that the new blueprint still unnecessarily split too many counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions, often for political reasons.

The contest for the Democratic nomination to the state's busiest appellate court is between two lower-court judges who preside at opposite ends of Pennsylvania, and whose resumés differ almost as much as the state's east and west. The winner of the May 21 primary election will run in the fall against Harrisburg corporate attorney Victor P. Stabile, who is unopposed for the Republican nomination. At stake is a seat on the 15-member Superior Court, which handles all state criminal and civil appeals not involving governance issues.

The remaining children of the Northeast Philadelphia faith-healing couple who chose prayer over medicine in two child deaths are receiving court-ordered medical care, defense attorneys said Monday. Herbert and Catherine Schaible's seven children were placed in temporary foster care after the couple told police they did not bring their 8-month-old, Brandon, to a doctor when he showed serious signs of illness last month. The Schaibles - members of a church that shuns medical care - are on probation for the 2009 death of their 2-year-old son, Kent.