Jennifer Rega for Magisterial District Judge

Jennifer Johnston Rega of Blairsville is announcing her candidacy for re-election as Magisterial District Judge for District 40-3-03 on both the Republican and the Democratic tickets in the May primary.  District 40-3-03 serves Blairsville, Saltsburg, and Armagh boroughs, and Young, Conemaugh, Blacklick, Burrell, East Wheatfield and West Wheatfield townships.

Rega was elected in 2001 and took office in January 2002.  She is also a licensed attorney, but has not actively practiced since taking office because she devotes full-time to the position of Magisterial District Judge.

While in office, Rega initiated discussion, and subsequently piloted, the video arraignment program in Indiana County which allows Magisterial District Judges to perform duties including preliminary arraignments and setting bond after court hours via video web conferencing.  Prior to video arraignment, the police departments had to bring the accused in person to the office of the judge who was on-call.  Using the new technology has saved the taxpayers a substantial amount of money at the municipal, county and state levels.  It has also saved countless hours for the various police departments in Indiana County who can return to patrolling much sooner.

Additionally, Rega teaches classes for the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission through the Criminal Justice Training Center at IUP.  She serves on the Board of Directors for Aging Services, Incorporated and is a member of the Ethics Committee for the Indiana Regional Medical Center.  She also recently became a charter member of the Kiwanis Club of Blairsville.

Rega graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh and from the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University in the top 25% of her class.  While attending law school, Rega was published in, and served as an associate editor of, the Dickinson Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. 

Following law school, Rega was a judicial law clerk for the Indiana County Court of Common Pleas and then practiced law with the law firm of Simpson, Kablack and Bell until such time as she won the election for Magisterial District Judge.

Rega feels that her background and experience in the legal profession have been invaluable to her tenure on the bench.  She has used her knowledge of the law, along with common sense and fairness, to serve the people who have come before her and will continue to do so if re-elected.