Judge does the right thing in saying no to Philomena

Former Mahoning County Prosecutor-turned jailbird James A. Philomena will leave the federal penitentiary in Milan, Mich., on Monday, but he won't be coming home. Instead, the man who headed a criminal enterprise within county government will be transported to a state prison to serve the remaining two years of a sentence handed down in late 2001. That's how it should be.
We fully support visiting Judge Richard M. Markus (no, this is not a misprint) when he says that Philomena has shown no true penitence in arguing that he should be let off the hook for the two years' state time once his federal prison term has ended.
In a ruling handed down last week, the judge denied the ex-prosecutor's request for shock probation, saying Philomena "asserts that he has endured sufficient punishment, but his office discredited the criminal justice system."
And Judge Markus adds this important observation: "Nowhere in his [Philomena's] motion does he explain how he has attempted to rectify or how he intends to rectify any part of that damage."
If only Judge Markus had shown such concern for society when he presided over the criminal case of Edward A. Flask Jr., a former director of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District. But more of that later.
Sob story
For now, we applaud the judge for not buying Philomena's sob story about how he has been mistreated in the federal pen and how poorly he's doing healthwise. As we noted in a recent editorial when we urged the judge not to give the former prosecutor a pass, he already received a break from the court when the six-year state sentence was made concurrent with his federal time. On Monday, Philomena will have served almost four years in the federal pen.
He had wanted Judge Markus to let him off on shock probation for the remaining two years in the state system, but the judge said no. He correctly pointed out that the former prosecutor is not eligible to apply for shock probation until he has served at least 180 days in a state facility.
Philomena's federal time stems from a case-fixing enterprise he headed during his tenure as county prosecutor that involved an assistant prosecutor, lawyers and even a judge. He was convicted of racketeering and bribery.
The state conviction is based on his guilty plea for bribery and perjury. Judge Markus sentenced him to six years, which is why he has two years left.
We must admit being surprised at the judge's refusal to be swayed by Philomena's argument, seeing as how his previous performance on the bench in the Flask case left us with the distinct impression that he does not view crimes committed by individuals in positions of public trust as grievous.
Three years ago, we lambasted the judge for the 90-day sentence he handed Flask, who had pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges stemming from his tenure on the MVSD board of directors. Flask got to serve his time in the Trumbull County Jail.
Maximum sentence
Special Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci had urged Judge Markus to impose the maximum three-year sentence in state prison, saying that Flask "admitted to using his office to authorize or secure public contracts in which he had a financial interest."
But the judge, much to our chagrin, observed that there was no "victim seeking restitution," completely ignoring the fact that the MVSD is a quasi-public entity that is responsible for supplying drinking water to more than 300,000 customers.
Based on his performance in the criminal trial, we strongly objected to Judge Markus' presiding over the civil trials of Flask and another MVSD director, Frank DeJute.
Needless to say, our objections were ignored. We have not been impressed with the visiting judge.
But his decision in the Philomena case leads us to the conclusion that he may have seen the light: Corrupt government officials are no better than two-bit street criminals. Indeed, they may be worse because they have no qualms about destroying the public's trust in them and in government.