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5.18.2001 00:05
Retired judge called 'fair-minded'
• Lawyers often ask John E. Orton III to mediate cases.
BY BRIAN C. JONES
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- The retired state judge who yesterday decided that a suspended mayoral aide should get his job back is no stranger to controversial cases and the uproar that can accompany them.
In fact, John E. Orton III, retired for 10 years, still finds himself in the spotlight because his peers in the legal community value his qualities as a mediator of difficult disputes.
"He has a tremendous reputation among members of the bar as being very fair, as being very fair-minded and willing and able to listen to both sides," said Judge Joseph F. Rodgers Jr., presiding justice of the Superior Court.
Rodgers, who served with Orton when he was a Superior Court judge, said that when cases come up calling for a mediator, the lawyers involved often request Orton.
"Lawyers just loved to try their cases in front of him," Rodgers said. "Some of us [judges] can be difficult. He was even-tempered on criminal or civil cases and treated all with respect."
Orton was asked by Providence officials to hear the appeal of Artin H. Coloian, who had been suspended as chief of staff to Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., after Coloian was indicted for allegedly taking a bribe on the mayor's behalf.
And as Rodgers suggested, that's the kind of role that Orton often has been tapped for since he stepped down from the bench in 1991 after 22 years as a jurist.
For example, Bryant College called in Orton to preside over disciplinary hearings after 15 students, including 7 members of the college's football team, were arrested after a 1998 brawl in which several people were injured.
"What I most admire about him is making decisions irrespective of the consequences," said Anthony A. Giannini, a retired Superior Court presiding justice.
"We expect judges to rule on cases based on the evidence -- forget what people say," Giannini said. "You still get criticized, but he never cared about that."
Orton, now 69, presided over a number of high-profile cases, including one that produced sharp public debate: the sentencing of Ralph A. Pari, in 1988.
Pari was the former director of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation who pleaded no contest to charges he had used RIHMFC funds for personal reasons and destroyed computer records to cover up illegal loans.
Orton ordered Pari to serve 16 months in prison, pay $8,000 in fines and perform 500 hours of community service when on probation. State prosecutors had asked for a 10-year prison term and $77,000 in fines.
Later, Orton was criticized when he ruled Pari could be eligible to work at jobs outside the prison. The RIHMFC board complained about "such a light sentence."
But Orton turned down a request by then Atty. Gen. James E. O'Neil to reverse course, saying he wasn't "going to let the press or the public bully me into imposing a sentence that was unfair."
"I am not condoning what Ralph Pari did. I don't even like Ralph Pari," Orton said. But he said Pari "suffered a great deal as a result of his misdeeds. He lost a brother. He had been held out in public shame. He lost friends."
Orton is a 1954 graduate of Brown University, where he was a roommate and football teammate (Orton played halfback) of former Gov. Philip W. Noel.
It was Noel who nominated Orton as a Superior Court judge in 1974 -- he had been a District Court judge since 1969.
Orton served until 1991, having served briefly as the presiding justice of Superior Court after Giannini retired.
Orton was one of five judges who said they wanted to succeed Giannini, but then-Gov. Bruce Sundlun appointed Rodgers instead.
Orton was born in Warwick on Sept. 19, 1931, and is a graduate of Cheshire Academy. He was a botany major at Brown, and after college, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, serving in Japan.
After the service, he worked as a salesman of textile industry boilers, pumps and other equipment, then was persuaded by Noel to go to Boston University Law School, from which he graduated in 1962.
Since his retirement, in addition to working as a mediator and lawyer, Orton has served in civic capacities, including working as chairman of the Warwick Charter Study Committee.
Digital Extra:
Keep up with Operation Plunder Dome developments at:
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