Former Judge Guilty of Money Laundering and Mail Fraud
Posted on Nov 23, 2008 9:34am PST
This past Wednesday, a federal jury decided that a former state Superior Court judge lied about being injured while involved in a low-speed motor vehicle accident. According to reports, the judge lied in order to collect thousands of dollars from insurance companies.
59 year old former judge, Michael T. Joyce, was found guilty on two counts of
mail fraud and six counts of
money laundering. After deliberating for over 2 hours, the jury presiding over the 4 week trial reached a guilty verdict. The case took place in the U.S. District Court, Downtown.
Joyce is expected to be sentenced on March 10th by Senior U.S. District Judge, Maurice B. Cohill.
At this time, Joyce's lawyer claims that his client is extremely upset and that they plan to file an appeal in the near future. "You never know what jurors are going to do," said defense lawyer Philip Friedman of Erie. "We have to respect (the verdict), but we don't agree with it."
In August 2001, Joyce claimed he suffered serious injuries while involved in a car accident. According to reports, Joyce was driving his Mercedes-Benz and was struck from behind by another motor vehicle that was traveling at 5 mph. After the accident, Joyce filed false claims and he received $440,000 from two separate insurance companies.
In 2007, Joyce retired from the bench after being indicted. He claimed that the car accident caused him to incur a severe back injury and that he needed surgery to fuse four vertebrae in his neck. He told the insurance companies that the pain prevented him from any sort of physical activity. Additionally, he claimed the injury prevented him from running for state Supreme Court.
However, prosecutors argue that Joyce was never injured and that his injury claims are all false. They hope to seize all property that Joyce bought with his insurance money, including his home.
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