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Mark Spotz, a Pennsylvania death row inmate, sought to have one of his death sentences overturned. His team of lawyers, according to Justice Castille, did nothing but take up ''as much court time and resources as possible''. The judge then said the federally funded work was ''intentionally abusive''. He refused to allow the lawsuit to move forward. The original argument had sought to overturn a denial for collateral relief using the Post Conviction Relief Act. Those efforts were met with incredulous disbelief by Justice Castille and the other Supreme Court justices.
Before Justice Castille found himself losing patience, he received his BS in Economics from Auburn University, located in Alabama, in 1966. A few years later, he graduated with his JD from the Virginia School of Law.
Justice Castille also served with the United States Marine Corp during the Vietnam War. He received many metals memorializing and honoring his heroism during the war and takes great pride in knowing he played a role in our military and cited in the past it was a ''natural'' progression into the legal sector.
Justice Castille, before he assumed his role with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, served as the Philadelphia District Attorney in the 1980s. The Republican was first elected to the court in 1993 and his current term is slated to expire in 2013.
His career has had its share of controversies, including accusations in 2010 of receiving gifts from lobbyists and various litigants. One of those gifts was alleged to be an all expense paid trip to New York City and another one in Puerto Rico. It was eventually discovered that he did report the gifts, as required by Pennsylvania law. Before this scandal, the same newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, uncovered what it called a ''series'' of errors and ''other malfeasance'' within the state's judicial system. As a result, Justice Castille immediately launched an investigation which resulted in eventual restructuring efforts. He hired an impartial attorney from out of state to oversee those restructuring efforts and the investigation as a whole.
Even if the attorneys representing Spotz had been successful in their efforts, he would have remained on death row for the other three murders he was found guilty of committing. This appears to have been a major sticking point with the Court, who called the efforts of the team of lawyers ''moot''. Still, it's likely Spotz will die of other causes before the state takes his life. Pennsylvania has 215 death row inmates, yet has not carried out an execution for more than three decades.
No word yet on whether Spotz's legal team will continue in their efforts of having that one conviction overturned.
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