Ronald D. Castille

Ronald D. Castille
District Attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In office January 6, 1986[1] – March 12, 1991[2]
Preceded by	Ed Rendell
Succeeded by	Lynne Abraham
Personal details
Born	(1944-03-16) March 16, 1944 (age 80) United States of America
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1966–1968
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Ronald D. Castille (born March 16, 1944) served on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1994 to 2014 and was chief justice from 2008 to 2014. He stepped down from the court in 2014, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

He was the

On January 14, 2008, Castille was sworn in as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.[8] He retired at the mandatory age of 70 on March 16, 2014. Castille was elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 2014.

While Chief Justice, in his capacity as head administrator of the Pennsylvania courts, he hired Jeffrey B. Rotwitt to act as the courts' attorney in a project to build a new family courthouse in Philadelphia County.^[9] Journalists at The Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Rotwitt was simultaneously acting as a business partner of the construction project's developer and was therefore involved on both sides of the transaction. Castille later claimed to have been duped by Rotwitt.

In 2012, Castille, a Republican, cast the deciding vote against the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission's redistricting map, siding with his Democratic colleagues. In his opinion, Castille wrote that the map split too many municipalities.^[10] He also wrote the unanimous opinion upholding the LRC's revised redistricting maps in 2013.^[11]

As district attorney, Castille frequently sought the death penalty, a point he used during his campaign for the Supreme Court. Castille personally authorized seeking the death penalty against Terry Williams, who had killed two men who sexually abused him as a child, but the sentence was overturned 25 years later because the prosecution deliberately withheld key facts. Castille's Supreme Court reinstated the sentence in 2015. On June 9, 2016, the US Supreme Court concluded in Williams v. Pennsylvania, that "Chief Justice Castille's failure to recuse from Williams's case presented an unconstitutional risk of bias."^[12]

Awards and decorations

Among Ron Castille's awards and decorations are the following:

• Combat Valor Device
  )
•   Purple Heart
•   Navy Presidential Unit Citation
•   Navy Unit Commendation
•   Combat Action Ribbon
•   National Defense Service Medal
•   Vietnam Service Medal
• Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross
•   Vietnam Campaign Medal

See also

• Angel Mendez

Notes

References

External links

• Interview with Ron Castille by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, July 16, 1997