BY JOSEPH KOHUT, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: JANUARY 12, 2019
SCRANTON — Drug charges filed against the son of Lackawanna County Judge Thomas Munley were withdrawn in court Friday and the 19-year-old instead pleaded guilty to two summary offenses.
Logan Munley appeared in Central Court on Friday morning for a scheduled preliminary hearing.
He pleaded guilty to summary counts of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, a deal that allows him to avoid having misdemeanors on his record. Each summary count carries a $100 fine.
His attorney, Larry Moran Sr., said “justice was served.”
The plea ends a marijuana possession case brought in July by Jessup police and is the second time officials withdrew the misdemeanor counts.
Joe Grace, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said, “This was a fair resolution of this case and it was supported by all involved law enforcement.”
The case began when the 19-year-old’s mother, Jodean Munley, complained to police that her son tried to drive away in her car while high or drunk. She also told police she found marijuana in the car and that her son punched a hole in the wall and broke an expensive statue.
The citations to which Logan Munley pleaded guilty Friday specifically allege he caused damage to property and was disruptive in the home, according to the tickets.
At the time, Jodean Munley said police charged her son at her request and agreed to withdraw the charges after her son agreed to enter rehabilitation. Thomas Munley denied he played a role in the withdrawal; his wife also denied he was involved.
District Attorney Mark Powell said his office approved the original charges but had not been consulted about withdrawing them. It broke with procedure. Police Chief Joseph Walsh said it is not department policy to withdraw drug charges because someone goes to rehab.
Walsh said his department would refile charges once chemical tests confirmed the substance they seized was marijuana. In December, police did.
However, the state attorney general’s office took over prosecution because Munley’s brother works in the district attorney’s office and Powell wanted to “avoid the appearance of impropriety,” he said.
“A mother saved her son,” Moran said. “She desperately, out of love, did the right thing and saved her son.”