Judge Calls the Cops
On County Clerk
By M. D. Drysdale

Personnel relations at the Orange County Courthouse took a serious turn last month when Side Judge Prudence Pease filed a criminal complaint against Court Clerk Emily Newman and Assistant Clerk Lisa Eastman.

The complaint alleges assault and unlawful restraint Dec. 20 during a confrontation that occurred in Pease’s office. Newman and Eastman had gone there to discuss hours and health insurance benefits. It is alleged that Judge Pease was blocked from leaving and that she was struck by Newman.

The case is being handled by the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations unit.

Detective Kirk Cooper of the St. Albans police barracks confirmed the allegations this week and stated that no charges have been filed. Yesterday (Wednesday) he was writing his report, to be relayed to the attorney general’s office, but he could not comment as to what his report would say.

The legal action hovered in the background throughout Tuesday evening’s budget hearing at the Chelsea courthouse, but it came to the fore when Newman’s attorney, Oreste Valsangiacomo of Barre, used the public forum to put a series of questions to the second side judge, Maurice "Mo" Brown, who has often praised Newman’s work.

Atty. Valsangiacomo implied that the office confrontation resulted from "unilateral actions" by Judge Pease regarding courthouse employees. He said that he was "concerned" about that and asked Brown to guarantee that both side judges would refrain from taking disciplinary actions against an employee unless they both agreed.

Judge Brown then revealed that Judge Pease had wanted to place both Newman and Eastman on administrative leave after the office incident, but that he had refused to go along with it.

"I said I would not do that, because it would cripple the operations of the court," he said.

Chelsea defense attorney Dan Sedon was incensed by the incident.

"It’s a travesty," he said. "It’s third world."

Two defenders of Judge Pease, however, protested discussion of the incident in public.

"These are just bits and pieces (of information), said one. "The story is not fully releaseable to the public. Wait until the whole story comes out."