Superior Court Judge Michael T. Joyce, who was indicted on money-laundering charges and federal mail fraud, was suspended from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Joyce, who has the right to appeal the suspension, said in a statement on Friday, "he expected the court to suspend him and agrees that it is the appropriate course of action to protect the court's integrity. Joyce also said he has no plans to appeal the order," according to www.law.com. "I'm disappointed in the grand jury's decision," said Joyce, "but I am more confident that when the facts are laid out, it will be clear that these charges have no merit." The charges? Mail fraud and money-laundering. Joyce, who's Mercedes Benz was rear-ended in 2001, collected $440,000 in insurance settlements. He complained "of constant neck and back pain, headaches, difficulty sleeping, anxiety and short-term memory loss," says the article. "He [also] claimed he was in such pain from May to July 2002 that he could not play a round of golf or hold a cup of coffee in his right hand." However, the article continues that, "during the same period Joyce made these claims, he played several rounds of gold in Jamaica, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, went scuba diving in Jamaica and renewed his diving-instructor's certificate, prosecutors said." "The bodily injury he says he sustained we believe was fraudulent," said U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan. The question now is will Joyce, who faces a retention election in November, be allowed to "slide under the radar and get another 10 years," according to G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. "Joyce will have to decide for himself whether he is politically viable," said Madonna. And Lynn Marks, the executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, said, "I wouldn't be surprised if there were pressure on him to step down from the retention race."

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