Full house for
Mischief Night court

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

If only civic meetings around the Northeast consistently drew as big and as young a crowd as last week’s session of night court at the 8th Police District did.
In such a case, there might be a lot fewer problems in local neighborhoods. Instead, the seats and benches in the police station’s roll call room on Oct. 30 were filled with non-violent, mostly juvenile criminal defendants.
The proceedings of the 90-minute Mischief Night session offered an up-close view of what those relatively few folks who do attend regular civic meetings always seem to be complaining about.
Municipal Court Judge Gerard Kosinski presided over the Mischief Night session, although the cases heard covered weeks of arrests by patrol cops in all four of the Northeast’s police districts. Similar night court sessions are held every month.
This time, Kosinski dispatched more than 60 cases, most for underage drinking, open container violations, trespassing or disorderly conduct violations. Most of those involved teens or young adults and almost half were girls.
Though the judge laid out several options for each of the kids involving both guilty and not-guilty pleas, virtually all pleaded guilty. In most of those cases Kosinski usually ordered each youth to perform 24 hours of community service.
The varying courtroom dispositions of the youths and parents in the underage drinking cases seemed to belie the inherent similarity of the basic circumstances surrounding each.
Some of the youngsters seemed burdened under the full gravity of their predicament and appeared on their best behavior as they sat and waited for their turn in front of the judge. A few even wore their Catholic school uniforms, although the school day had ended some six hours earlier.
It probably was no coincidence that the parents of those teens were the ones who didn’t seem too humored by the whole scenario.
By contrast, a few youths and even a parent or two treated the gathering more like a social event than a legal proceeding.
One particular mother and son smiled, joked and laughed almost continuously from the moment they walked into the police station lobby. At one point, the mother openly commented how the police had better things to do than arrest her son.
When his name was called, however, the boy pleaded guilty like the rest and got his community service obligation.
During the night, Kosinski chided several youths for smiling when speaking to him and repeatedly ordered defendants to remove their hats and take their hands out of their pockets. Nevertheless, the judge kept plugging along, rarely having to deliberate even basic details of most cases because the defendants knew they got caught red-handed.
But one particular case involving five boys got some extra attention due to its connection with the ongoing problem of youth loitering, vandalism and theft at St. Jerome’s Church in Holme Circle.
The problems got so bad last summer that a group of area residents began organizing a new neighborhood civic association and Town Watch to combat them.
During the court hearing, a priest from the parish explained how skateboarders had damaged church property. But the parish was ineligible for restitution from the parents of the five defendants because none were directly involved in the skateboarding.
All five youths pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing.
Another case involving five adult males was the end product of community complaints about an ongoing nuisance problem in the district.
Neighbors in the Pleasant Hill section of East Torresdale have dealt for years with noise and drinking in the parking lot of the Linden Avenue boat ramp. Officers from the 8th district arrested all five defendants for drinking out of open containers in the lot.
All five men pleaded guilty and were each issued a fine of $60 and court costs of $146.
Perhaps the most notable tallies of the session, however, were the numbers of cases where the defendants or the complaining police officers did not show up.
Almost one-quarter of the defendants were found guilty in absentia because they didn’t get or didn’t abide by the subpoenas issued them. Kosinski issued most of those defendants $300 fines, plus $146 in court costs.
The judge’s hands were tied in 10 cases, however, as the arresting officers didn’t make it into court. Kosinski’s only option was to dismiss those cases. In a few instances, the defendants didn’t show up, either, but the case couldn’t proceed without a prosecution witness.
Following the court session, a police officer explained privately that the police department won’t compensate officers to show up for night court when they’re off duty. So, a lot of nuisance cases simply fall by the wayside. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com