Philly judge accused of bias is cautioned by state judicial board, but will avoid sanctions

Pennsylvania’s Judicial Conduct Board has dismissed a complaint alleging impropriety and bias by Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie Coyle, but privately cautioned Coyle about her conduct.

The board summarized that confidential decision in a Dec. 18, 2024, letter obtained by The Inquirer.

The complaint, filed in February 2023, centered on a case featured in a 2019 Inquirer series, “The Probation Trap,” which noted that Coyle’s sentences for probation violations were the harshest of any Philadelphia judge.

In that case, a man who was on probation had been arrested in a narcotics raid on a relative’s house, but the drug charges were thrown out. In most cases, that would also resolve the potential probation violation. But Coyle required the prosecutor, under threat of contempt, to put on a probation-violation hearing anyway. Then, she found the defendant in violation and sentenced him to 5½ to 14 years in prison.

The public defender on the case, Leonard Sosnov, alleged that Coyle tried to coerce him to withdraw from the case, and that she pushed his client to go against his advice and drop a motion to recuse Coyle from the matter, offering leniency in return. Sosnov also accused Coyle of putting the defendant in danger by revealing details of a sealed plea agreement.

Coyle could not be reached for comment. A court spokesperson, who did not respond to requests for comment, previously said judges were unable to comment on the confidential proceedings.

Judicial Conduct Board chief counsel Melissa Norton said she could not discuss specific cases.

In general, she said, “A letter of caution is issued when the board decides to dismiss a complaint, concluding the conduct came close to but did not violate the rules or code — or when there was a violation, but there are mitigating factors or circumstances.”

Examples of mitigation, she said, could include a long tenure on the bench without complaints, or a judge’s efforts to rectify errors.

The issuance of a cautionary notice carries no immediate consequence, though it could lead the board to deal with any future misconduct “more severely,” Norton said.

It means no charges against Coyle will be filed with the Court of Judicial Discipline. That would appear to close a chapter that began more than five years ago.

Sosnov previously appealed Coyle’s decision in the 2019 case to Pennsylvania’s Superior Court, which has found that Coyle abused her discretion or appeared to show bias in at least six cases. Superior Court found that the case amounted to “a clear violation of [the defendant’s] constitutional rights.” The court suggested that Coyle had displayed “animus” toward the prosecutor and that her conduct toward the defense was potentially disqualifying.

Sosnov said the complaint was the only one he has filed in his decades as a lawyer. He said he views the letter of caution as validation that the board “saw something wrong” with Coyle’s conduct.

Coyle won reelection in 2023. She is assigned to the court’s civil division.

Cautionary letters are not uncommon, though most are never made public, while sanctions for judges are rare.

In 2023, the conduct board fielded more than 800 complaints against judges and issued 55 letters to judges either cautioning or counseling them about concerning conduct.

That year, it filed charges with the Court of Judicial Discipline in only two cases, according to the board’s annual report.