The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline voted Dec. 9 to remove Luzerne County Common Pleas Judge Ann H. Lokuta from the bench and barred her from holding judicial office in the future, following a sanctions hearing in her case.
The 6-1 decision in In re Lokuta to unseat the judge, who was found in October to have violated the state Constitution and Code of Judicial Conduct, marks the first time in the 15-year history of the court that it has removed a judge from office who was not first convicted of a criminal offense.
