Grand Jury Report On Bristol Twp.’s Manager Tossed By County Judge

In a possibly precedent setting move, a Bucks County judge has tossed out a scathing grand jury report that called Bristol Township’s manager “unethical” and questioned his credibility.

An order issued this week by Bucks County Judge Wallace Bateman read that the “report of the county grand jury … is hereby dismissed and shall have no further course or effect.”

The 37-page grand jury report that was issued nearly one year ago said Township Manager William “Bill” McCauley took advantage of a crash caused by a police officer who was drinking earlier in the night – but reportedly not intoxicated – in an alleged attempt to harm the career of some department members. The report stated the “officers should be fully exonerated, not only pursuant to criminal investigation, but also as it is related to any possible administrative action.” Included in the report were judgments of McCauley’s character, as determined by testimony at the grand jury hearings.“We find the behavior of William McCauley unethical,” the grand jury wrote. The also described his testimony as “utterly without credibility” and raised concerns over his role to oversee some aspects of the police department.

Attorney Peter Vaira, who represented the township in the matter, told LevittownNow.com that McCauley was “ecstatic” that the report was tossed by a judge. McCauley was not available for comment early Wednesday evening.

From the day the report was released, McCauley defended his handling of the crash and ensuing investigation.

“As a result of being honest and doing my job, I have been subject to a character assassination and total hatchet-job that is the Grand Jury Report,” McCauley said in a statement released following the grand jury report last year. He also called Bristol Township  a “political cesspool for at least 40 years.”

District Attorney David Hecker said in an interview Wednesday that he stood by everything contained in the report. He added that the judge only threw the report out due to a technicality. “I stand by that report and have no reason to believe it did not totally reflect the situation,” he said.

Prosecutor Robert James, who handled the grand jury, said last year that he stood by the grand jury investigation and report.

“In a practical matter, it was a report. No one went to jail for it,” Heckler said.

McCauley and his legal team filed motions and traveled to Doylestown over the past year to fight the report, which they said in a summer 2015 filing featured portions that were “unequivocally and blatantly false.”

“The grand jury report is riddled with emotionally-charged language and pejoratives which demonstrate the hostility of the jurors toward Mr. McCauley. Hostility does not spring from the air; like hate, it needs to be taught. It is clear that these grand jurors were influenced to believe that the police officers were the good guys and Mr. McCauley was the bad guy,” a motion filed last summer by McCauley’s team said.

Vaira said the grand jury report was thrown out by Bateman for various reasons, including arguments his side brought before the judge. On the other hand, the district attorney said the report was tossed because of a “flawed procedure” involving the editing process. Heckler said the issue was with the process used to edit and transcribe notes, not the content of the document.

“If that makes Mr. McCauley feel better, more power to him,” Heckler said, before once again stating he stood by the information in the report and testified to by witnesses under oath.

“The grand jury Report is, itself, a cover up of the cover up. Its object is to protect certain Bristol Township police officers and to do so at the expense of the reputation, character and career of William J. McCauley, III. This is a grand jury that was totally dominated by the district attorney’s office and deliberately led into unauthorized areas of investigation without proper instruction on the law and without full access to all of the relevant evidence in possession of the prosecutor,” said a response filed last year by attorney Harvey Sernovitz, who represents the township manager.

McCauley’s legal defense was paid for by Bristol Township taxpayers. Vaira said the objections to the grand jury report involved McCauley’s conduct as a township employee.

The district attorney’s office would not seek to appeal Bateman’s ruling and would not launch a second investigation into the incident, Heckler said.

Vaira said the matter demonstrated why he felt Pennsylvania needed to rid the grand jury system of the ability to put out reports.