New year, new judges, new court; Chester County history made in 2023

WEST CHESTER — History will be made on Friday, Dec. 29, in Courtroom One of the Chester County Justice Center, as seven Common Pleas Court judges take their oaths of office with a packed gallery of family, friends and supporters.

That septet will become the largest collection of trial court judges ever to take the bench at one time in the 341-year history of the county – one of Pennsylvania’s first three – and the 232-year history of the court.

Those taking the oaths include five who were elected to new 10-year-terms – one of whom had served a partial term after being appointed to the post in 2022 – and two who were retained by the voters to subsequent terms

“The addition to the Chester County bench of the five newly elected Common Pleas judges constitutes the largest number of judges added at one time to the court since it was created in 1791,” President Judge John Hall, who along with his colleague Judge Patrick Carmody won retention in November — noted in a statement about the historic nature of the moment.

“As a percentage of the fourteen-member court, these five judges will represent over one-third of the bench, the largest proportional change to the court since the appointment of Judge William Waddell in 1887, when Chester County was approved to add a second Common Pleas judgeship,” Hall said in a statement.

The previous largest class of newly elected judges came 30 years ago, when Judges Jacqueline Carroll Cody, James P. MacElree II and the late Howard F. Riley Jr. took their oaths. Each had also been previously appointed to the bench.

Also notable of the five who will begin serving their full terms is the fact that they are all Democrats, and bested their Republican opponents at the ballot box by comfortable margins. That the Democratic Party could win five seats on a court that for decades had been defined by its traditional Republican makeup is a testament to the new political reality in the county.

The last member of the bench from the Republican Party is Judge Alison Bell Royer, who took her oath in 2016. Since then, all four subsequently elected Common Pleas Court judges have been Democrats.

The new judges are Sarah Black, a county public defender; Fredda Maddox, the county’s elected sheriff; Thomas “Tip” McCabe, a former public defender in private practice; and Deb Ryan, the county’s elected district attorney. They will join Nicole Forzato, the judge who took the bench in 2022.

Black and McCabe are the first jurists in the county to bring with them a background in criminal defense representation since former Judge Juan Sanchez, who is now a federal judge in Philadelphia.

Maddox is the second Black elected to the bench, after former U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner.

Moreover, for the first time in its history, the majority of 13 positions on the bench – eight – will be women.

Forzato will move from hearing criminal cases to having a caseload that is centered around civil trials and Orphan’s Court matters.

She most recently presided over the trial of a Philadelphia woman accused in the stabbing death of a Lincoln University student in 2022. The defendant was acquitted or first-degree murder charges but is set to be sentenced by Forzato on charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in the coming weeks.

Ryan, the outgoing DA, will handle Family Court cases and a civil trial caseload as she awaits the time before she can hear criminal cases to come. Ryan’s experience in law has been almost exclusively in prosecuting criminal cases, both in Chester County and in Philadelphia. She reportedly has been sitting in on Family Court proceedings and working with the judge who hears such cases to get up to speed.

Maddox has been assigned to handle both criminal and Family Court cases, while Black will hear criminal and civil cases and McCabe is assigned to hear criminal and Orphans Court matters.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Dec. 30, the county will hold ceremonial swearing-in ceremonies for the row officers and commissioners positions.

Those are led by commissioners Josh Maxwell and Marian Moskowitz, the two incumbents, and newcomer Eric Roe, a former state representative. Maxwell and Moskowitz have served since 2020 when the board of commissioners flipped from being headed by Republicans to Democrats.

Also taking the oaths are county District Attorney Christopher deBarrena-Sarobe, who will succeed Ryan but who has already been working in the office; Prothonotary Debbie Bookman, who received the most votes of any county candidate this year; Recorder of Deeds Diane O’Dwyer, who has served as acting recorder for a year; incumbent Register of Willis Michelle Vaughn; and Sheriff Kevin Dykes, who moves up the ladder after serving as first deputy since 2020.

All are Democrats. Roe will be the only Republican county officeholder.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.