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Thursday, February 21, 2002

By Dennis B. Roddy and Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writers

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge H. Patrick McFalls Jr. was ejected from a restaurant on Valentine's Day after engaging in what customers described as noisy and sometimes bizarre conversation and removing his pants.

The episode occurred the same day newspapers reported that McFalls' superiors on the bench had sought to have him suspended in a standoff growing out of allegations by members of his staff that he was drinking while on the bench.

"Absolutely not. Absolutely not," McFalls said of the newest allegations last night. He denied being ejected from Casbah, a popular Shadyside restaurant, on Feb. 14 and said it is "doubtful" he was in the restaurant that day.

Several patrons who said they were at the restaurant on Feb. 14 -- all of whom spoke on condition they not be identified -- said the judge had been in the bar around 10 p.m., loudly identifying himself as a judge and declaring that he was on the front page of that day's newspapers.

Patrons who said they ate at the bar because the restaurant was crowded earlier in the evening said McFalls repeatedly ordered drinks, bought a round for several of them and spoke loudly about his political connections. He also spoke of trips to the Cayman Islands and joked that he had closed all of Osama bin Laden's bank accounts.

The judge was dressed in an orange sweater and blue jeans, the colors of the University of Virginia, his alma mater. He told patrons he was from Charlottesville, where the university is located.

The judge often interrupted his stories to say, in a voice tinged with sarcasm, "Hey, Mr. Bartender, can I get a drink?"

The judge's behavior left the bartender visibly annoyed, patrons said. The judge paid for his drinks with a stack of 20 to 30 $20 bills he laid on the bar.

McFalls told patrons he was featured in a story on the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Feb. 14 editions. On that date, the newspaper reported that top Allegheny County court officials, in an unprecedented move, had asked the state Supreme Court to suspend McFalls because he repeatedly failed to meet with them to discuss his planned return to the bench. McFalls earlier had been placed on leave with pay.

The judge made several calls on his cell phone, saying at one point that he was calling the White House.

Later, as the judge fumbled in his pants pocket, patrons saw McFalls' jeans drop, revealing white and blue boxer shorts.

One couple, who had moved down the bar to be farther away from McFalls, overheard the restaurant manager approach him.

"She said 'Sir, you must get dressed and leave,'" the woman said. "I thought, Oh my gosh, he's got boxers on. [His pants] were off and draped over the bar chair."

After McFalls was ejected from Casbah, he spent time at a bar across the street, where a kitchen employee later summoned a taxi to take him home. The judge left that establishment at 1:30 a.m.

McFalls, 58, who previously has said he has not had an alcoholic drink since 1995, declined last night to discuss whether he has been drinking, saying it is the subject of a confidential psychologist's examination ordered by the courts as part of an evaluation of his fitness.

McFalls blamed the latest allegations on a conspiracy to have him removed from the bench, a conspiracy he said grew out of his decision to fire three staff members after they went to McFalls' superiors and reported that he had been drunk on the job.

The state Supreme Court yesterday allowed a psychologist's report on McFalls to be filed with the court under seal.

The report was contained in an emergency petition filed last week by Allegheny County President Judge Robert A. Kelly and Judge Joseph James, administrative judge of the Civil Division.

The petition asked the court to suspend McFalls -- who has been on paid leave since November -- because he has failed to comply with repeated orders to meet with them.