Judge Bradley Lunsford said he has looked forward to every day he has served as a common pleas judge in Centre County -- except yesterday, when he consistently scolded two attorneys for bringing political tensions into the courtroom.

What was supposed to be a hearing on obtaining discovery material in the case of a Virginia man accused of raping an unconscious female Penn State student in September ending up turning into a flurry of back-and-forth arguing between two candidates for Centre County judge.

Justin A. Cluck's trial was scheduled for last Friday, but was delayed until the April term of court after notification that the trial's prosecutor, Centre County Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane, had pneumonia. Lunsford granted the continuance last Thursday.

The next day, Cluck's lawyer, Bruce Manchester, filed a motion requesting discovery material he says he asked Sloane for on several occasions and another motion asking Lunsford to find Sloane in contempt of the court.

Manchester said he was upset when he saw Sloane at the Republican's Lincoln Day Dinner Thursday evening, the night before the trial he was too sick to go forward with.

During the hearing, Sloane recounted what he did over the weekend to Lunsford. He said on Thursday, he attended the Lincoln Day dinner; Friday evening, he met a few campaign supporters briefly to thank them; and Saturday, he drove around with his son to campaign for the last 30 signatures needed to place him on the ballot for judge.

Sloane presented a doctor's note on Geisinger Medical Center letterhead to Lunsford, which Sloane said shows that the doctor advised him not to go forward with the trial in his condition. However, he added that his doctor said he could attend the Thursday dinner and other events where he could choose to leave at any time.

"I couldn't do that in the middle of a trial. That would be unacceptable," Sloane said. "But I could leave at any time with those other activities ... nothing I've said to the court is misleading. I truly think I did the right thing."

Sloane accused Manchester of filing a contempt motion against him simply to tarnish his reputation.

"All [Manchester] wants is for me to fail. It has nothing to do with justice, and nothing to do with this case. This is upside-down and completely out of bounds, even for Bruce," Sloane said.

"I'm not talking politics. I'm talking about the responsibilities of a Commonwealth prosecutor," Manchester responded. "No matter what I do, it's going to raise the issue of taking political advantage of him, but we have a code of professional responsibility and a duty to represent our clients with zeal."

Lunsford had to stop both attorneys at several junctions in the hearing -- a few times calling each of their statements "political ads."

"God, you guys are like two kids," Lunsford said. "Your campaign is out there, not here. We have to decide people's fate here. Keep politics out of this room. Are you listening to me?"

At the hearing, Lunsford said he wasn't sure if Sloane's actions passed the "sniff test" of contempt, but that he is concerned about the community's perception and the "overall integrity" of the process.

"I'm not sure it was the best judgment. Does that mean it's contemptuous?" he said. "This is just the last thing I want to do as a common pleas judge."

Lunsford put off making a decision on the issue of contempt, and Manchester, after much coaxing at the hearing by Lunsford, eventually summarized the discovery material he needed.

Manchester said medical discovery documents that were previously illegible, rohypnol test results, which would show if the alleged victim was drugged and a vial of the defendant's blood would resolve his motion.

The victim was not drunk or drugged, Sloane said, indicating that rohypnol testing would not be necessary and would not be introduced at trial. But Manchester persistently asked for the testing until Lunsford ultimately denied it.

"What more do you want? Here," Sloane said to Manchester as he grabbed his entire file on Cluck and slapped it on Manchester's desk.

"Take a deep breath. Calm down," Lunsford said to Sloane.

Lunsford said he wasn't sure if Manchester was entitled to the defendant's blood sample but gave him 10 days to write a brief explaining why he thinks he is.

According to court documents, State College police said Cluck engaged in sexual intercourse with a 23-year-old woman while she was unconscious or unknowing of what was occurring. The alleged incident took place at a residence on the 1100 block of Smithfield Street, according to court documents

By the hearing's conclusion, Manchester ended up receiving the corrected medical documents and an opportunity to campaign for access to his client's vial of blood. Sloane got the chance to explain his weekend activities.

And both received a lesson from Lunsford: "Politics out there. Justice in here."