BEAVER COUNTY Judge decides to retire
The jurist has been on the bench for 28 years.
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) -- A judge known for his cigar smoking, a controversial child custody case and for being the longest-sitting judge in Beaver County history has decided to retire.
Robert Reed, 70, has been a judge for 28 years and led the court as president judge for the past 17 -- the longest tenure in Beaver County's 200-year history. Reed said he will continue to work as a retired judge.
After serving briefly as an assistant district attorney and district attorney, Reed's career as a judge started with a legal battle.
Close vote
In 1973, Reed asked for a recount after Joseph Walko was declared the winner by 271 votes. The recount found clerical and ballot errors and Reed was declared the winner by seven votes. That recount then prompted almost a year of legal wrangling that eventually went to the state Supreme Court and the federal court in Pittsburgh; Reed was eventually declared the winner by 13 votes.
Walko became a judge three years later and worked alongside Reed.
Colleagues said Reed was known for his humility and knowledge of the law.
"He was never pretentious. Bob was the same person when he went on the bench as he was when he was assistant district attorney," said Charles Bowers Jr., a former board member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Reed's knowledge of the law was once tested by a child custody battle that lasted two years.
In August 1998, Amanda Kolle left her 4 1/2-month old son in the care of a friend while she recovered from depression and birth-related complications.
Without Kolle's knowledge, the friend gave the boy to a family that hoped to adopt him. Reed ruled Kolle was an unfit mother and terminated her parental rights. Reed's ruling set off a legal dispute and was overturned by the state Superior Court. Kolle was reunited with her son in June 2000.