By Jennifer Peltz and Rachel Cohen
The Associated Press
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By Evamarie Socha
The Daily Item
LEWISBURG — Friday, Oct. 19, in Union County Court was a day full of pre-trial conferences — or what were supposed to be pre-trial conferences.
One after another, District Attorney D. Peter Johnson told Judge Michael Hudock that this person, that person, another person did not show. Addressing the judge, Johnson said: “I respectfully request that a bench warrant be issued for” about eight people this particular day.
Hudock agreed and made the orders, and with that the number of bench warrants in Union County rose to 76.
“It’s a fact of life that there are people who are not going to show up” to court as directed, said Hudock, now on the bench 11 months in the 17th Judicial District, which covers Union and Snyder counties.
Criminal and domestic relations cases, for some reason, see the most people who will skip, he said.
“You will always have some people who are given notice and forget about it,” Hudock said, “and there are others who purposely don’t show up.”
Read more of this story in Sunday's edition of The Daily Item.
