Rogers (left), and Salavantis
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WILKES-BARRE — An attorney for the man seeking the recusal of all Luzerne County judges from his divorce and child custody case filed a motion to preserve phone, computer and any and all records of communications involving his wife and two judges.
Attorney Samuel C. Stretton, of Chester County, on behalf of Anthony Banta, filed a recusal motion earlier this week after the alleged discovery of communications on a laptop computer showed Suzanne Banta Mattern had been coached by domestic Administrative Judge Jennifer L. Rogers before and during divorce proceedings.
Stretton on Thursday filed a new motion seeking preservation of communications records involving Rogers, Mattern, and Judge Stefanie Salavantis, who is presiding over the case.
In a separate action, a sanctions hearing in the divorce has been continued indefinitely.
Mattern filed a petition for divorce in April 2021.
When she returned a laptop computer to Banta, the alleged communications between Mattern and Rogers were discovered, Stretton’s filing says.
Stretton believes the alleged communications between Mattern and Rogers show an impropriety under the Code of Judicial Conduct, prompting the motion to recuse all county judges from presiding over the divorce and child custody dispute.
Salavantis previously scheduled a sanctions hearing on Dec. 21 related to the divorce case, regarding allegations that Banta failed to return an engagement ring which contains Mattern’s grandmother’s diamond, failed to pay credit card debt and failed to cooperate with the division of personal property.
Banta’s divorce attorney, Inna Materese, filed a motion to continue the sanctions hearing due to the motion that seeks recusal of judges.
Salavantis continued the sanctions hearing Thursday and will schedule a new date “to be determined in the future.”