Letter to the editor: Petrush qualified to be judge

When electing a judge, experience and qualifications matter. Judith Petrush has both.

I have been a practicing attorney in Westmoreland County for more than 50 years. During that time, I have sat across the courtroom from many prosecutors in both federal and state courts. Some of them stand out as exceptional. One of those is Judith Petrush.

Petrush is extremely skilled. She knows the rules of evidence inside and out. She knows the law.

Formidable in the courtroom, she was also fair; while she could be firm in her dealings, she was even-handed. In short, she was everything that the public could want in a prosecutor.

Magisterial district judges likewise have to be fair and even-handed and know the rules of evidence and substantive law with which they are presented. They get that best by being experienced in the courtroom.

I do not know Petrush’s opponent and, importantly, neither do my colleagues here in Westmoreland County. At a recent lawyers’ meeting, I inquired of a number of lawyers as to whether any of them knew anything about her opponent. None did. None could remember seeing him in the courthouse, let alone in a courtroom.

I do not intend to demean her opponent, but this is a job that calls for the skills that one acquires by being involved in a lot of hearings, trials and litigation. Petrush has that experience. Petrush has the temperament. Petrush has the ethics.

Judith Petrush is my choice and should be your choice for magisterial district judge. Qualifications matter.

Richard H. Galloway

Delmont