State judges have sided with Luzerne County Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. regarding his heated courtroom battle with a county prosecutor last year that led to a contempt of court order.

Sklarosky was well within his right to order an assistant district attorney to jail for dodging questions about his prosecution tactics in the theft case of Wilkes-Barre Township Fire Chief John Yuknavich, a panel of state Superior Court judges ruled Friday.

Read the Superior Court's ruling

The three-judge panel also felt there was no need for Sklarosky to recuse himself from the case, as was demanded by Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick just seconds before Sklarosky ordered him to prison.

Friday's ruling denies a formal appeal the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office filed in the days after the courtroom tussle, which delayed Yuknavich's trial. Sklarosky's contempt order was not immediately enforced pending the appeal and it's not clear what will happen now that members of the higher court has ruled.

Melnick "holds the key to the jailhouse door" and needs to comply with the judge's directives, the court wrote.

In their appeal, prosecutors claimed Sklarosky pre-judged the case by comments he made after tossing crucial evidence and was unfit to preside over the trial because he attended the same dinner party as Yuknavich's defense attorney, Barry Dyller, a month before trial.

The Superior Court panel said Luzerne County prosecutors did not meet their burden of producing "evidence establishing bias, prejudice, or unfairness, which raises the substantial doubt as to the jurist's ability to preside impartially."

In his own written opinion, Sklarosky noted the case was never discussed at the dinner, attended by six newly elected judges and their spouses. Dyller is married to one of those judges, Lesa Gelb.

"The Commonwealth provided no evidence in support of its recusal motion, other that its bald allegation that the trial judge and defense counsel were out to dinner during the pendency of this case," the Superior Court panel wrote.

The contempt of court order followed two days of testimony in February 2013 in which Sklarosky accused Melnick of refusing to answer yes or no questions from Dyller regarding the prosecution's theory of the case.

Yuknavich was to stand trial on charges he wrote himself $11,865 in fire department checks and spent $3,706 on the fire company's Sam's Club credit card. A jury had already been selected, but was not in the courtroom as the attorneys tried to decide several pre-trial issues.

After the first day of dealing with pre-trial matters, Sklarosky warned Melnick "you will answer the questions or bring your toothbrush because I'm going to lodge you at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility."

As court started the next day, Melnick asked the judge to recuse himself, saying that he learned of the dinner party Sklarosky attended with Dyller. Sklarosky declined to recuse himself, explaining it was a large dinner party of 12 people and the case was not mentioned.

Sklarosky then continued with the hearing and Melnick continued to decline to give answers to yes or no questions about information in his charging documents, according to court transcripts.

Melnick tried to invoke a supposed "investigative privilege," but the Superior Court panel wrote that even a fellow prosecutor in the courtroom "admitted that he had never heard anyone invoke such a privilege."

Sklarosky then held Melnick in contempt of court, putting Yuknavich's case in limbo ever since.

"Your answers were absolutely not compliant with the orders of this court," Sklarosky said.

"The Superior Court will be final arbiter of that," Melnick shot back. "You're not the final say on that, judge."

The district attorney's office filed the appeal on behalf of Melnick, but the court ruled that only Melnick along could relieve the court's sanctions by complying with Sklaorsky's orders.

Melnick "holds the key to the jailhouse door," the court wrote.

Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis on Sunday said she would like to thoroughly review the opinion before commenting. Melnick did not respond to an email.

After the controversy, Dyller filed court papers saying Melnick backed himself into a corner. Dyller contended Melnick knowingly lied when he filed court papers prior to trial, listing by name every bank in Pennsylvania as a possible place where Yuknavich made illegal transactions, but refused to say yes or no when asked about each specific bank.

"Melnick faced a difficult choice. He had to admit unethical behavior in a criminal proceeding, possibly putting this case, as well as his license to practice law, in jeopardy. His other choice was to be held in contempt of court and jailed. Melnick found a third alternative," Dyller wrote. "Facing a Hobson's choice of admitting his lies in court papers or refusing a judge's order to answer questions, Melnick blurted out his motion to recuse."

Prosecutors stood by Melnick and filed formal appeals to the Superior Court, seeking for them to enforce the recusal motion and block the contempt of court order.

In it's appeal, prosecutors also asked the court to reverse a ruling by Sklarosky that prohibited evidence - records of a November 2008 bank withdrawal and 15 bounced fire department checks - that prosecutors say is key to their case. The Superior Court denied that appeal as well.

Sklarosky Jr. has already prejudged its case and cannot be fair, prosecutors said in the appeal.

During pre-trial arguments, prosecutors told Sklarosky his decision to bar certain evidence at trial would handicap its case against the fire chief, they wrote. If that's true, then prosecutors "don't have a case," Sklarosky shot back, the motion notes. The comment appears to indicate Sklarosky thinks the case is weak, they said.

While preparing for the first trial against Yuknavich, prosecutors said they determined Yuknavich failed to deposit $48,712 into the fire department's account between 2008 and 2012, leading to additional charges filed in August. He is awaiting trial on that case too.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal