Kane’s office won’t pursue appeal in Spanier, Schultz, Curley charges
by Lori Falce
The Office of Attorney General is not going to appeal a ruling that dropped some charges against former Penn State leaders.
According to an announcement from Attorney General Kathleen Kane, her office will not pursue an appeal of the state Supreme Court ruling from January. That was when a panel tossed the perjury, obstruction and conspiracy counts against former university president Graham Spanier and former vice president Gary Schultz, as well as obstruction and conspiracy against former athletic director Tim Curley.
That leaves failure to report suspected abuse and endangering the welfare of children charges against all three and a perjury count against Curley remaining in Dauphin County. The charges stem from the grand jury proceedings against retired Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
“The attorney general accepts the opinion of the Solicitor General and, in response thereto, orders that no further resources of the Commonwealth be expended to pursue a possible appeal,” the OAG said in a release.
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Finally a decent decision from the Attorney General's office although the AG website has nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteThe Solicitor General's statement blamed grand jury judge Barry Feudale and unnamed prosecutors, although we know Frank Fina was the main one.
The statement did not blame Cynthia Baldwin, although I think she was responsible too. She failed to give a proper Upjohn warning to Curley, Schultz and Spanier explaining that she represented the university only, not them.
She also failed to speak up when all three men testified that Baldwin was representing them.
"The Attorney General accepts the opinion of the Solicitor General.." Can anyone shed some light on Kane's choice of Bruce Castor as the Solicitor General? Wasn't he part of Risa Ferman's "destroy Kane camp" not very long ago? Does his coming over to Kane's camp indicate that he is now a Risa Ferman dissenter? What does he know about the false charges brought against Kane by Risa Ferman?
ReplyDeleteAlso, can anyone shed some light on how this Rule 1.6 ties into preventing Kane from speaking to the public about the corruption she is fighting? Everyone, including Kane, seems to be afraid of talking about this. I can understand that lawyers and government officials have been successfully "gagged" by this corruption loophole. But it would seem that members of the public that want to help expose the PA/U.S. government corruption can speak openly about this. Ray directed me to Terance Healy's twitter page not too long ago when I had concerns about Risa Ferman becoming a judge. I have read his explanations of how this Rule 1.6 has allowed the Montgomery County DA's office to terrorize him for over a decade. But no one, not even Kathleen Kane, will respond to his letters and/or emails requesting help with this matter. Any thoughts on this by members or participants of this blog?
Can we, as members of the public in an unofficial capacity, discuss what this Rule 1.6 is? Can we discuss if it is even legal? And can we discuss who enacted the rule, and was it done with the approval of the American people? Were we informed that this rule would possibly deny us our basic Constitutional rights as American citizens? And lastly, are there any thoughts on how Risa Ferman's assault on Bill Cosby and the PA Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, ties into this corruption and Rule 1.6?
Truthseeker,
DeleteKane hired Castor to be 2nd in command (and the 1st lawyer in the pecking order, which essentially emasculated first deputy Bruce Beemer. Kane cannot make legal decisions since she's been disbarred, so Castor is now performing Kane's former role.
Castor wasn't involved in the Kane case with Ferman -- that was Kevin Steele.
I honestly don't see the connection between 1.6 and the Kane "gag" orders because she was 1) under grand jury secrecy rules on one hand and 2) under a non-disclosure order by Judge Carpenter on the other.
The Cosby, PSU 3, Kane, and the Lynn case are all lawless, politically motivated prosecutions that were engineered by corrupt prosecutors and judges. I don't see a connection to Rule 1.6, however several other rules of conduct have been violated in these cases, especially rule 3.1 (meritorious claims).
(2) The filing of an action or defense or similar action taken for a client is not frivolous merely because the facts have not first been fully substantiated or because the lawyer expects to develop vital evidence only by discovery. What is required of lawyers, however, is that they inform themselves about the facts of their clients’ cases and the applicable law and determine that they can make good faith arguments in support of their clients’ positions. Such action is not frivolous even though the lawyer believes that the client’s position ultimately will not prevail. The action is frivolous, however, if the lawyer is unable either to make a good faith argument on the merits of the action taken or to support the action taken by a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law.
I do not believe the arguments put forth by the Commonwealth's or District Attorneys were made in good faith.
Perhaps one reason Kane picked Castor was because he was no friend of Tom Corbett and his crew. Castor ran against Corbett in the 2004 GOP primary for Attorney General in a bitter race. Had Castor won, he likely would have become governor instead of Corbett, and the Sandusky case might have been handled very differently.
DeleteThank you Ray and Tim for shedding some light on these questions that I posted, I really appreciate it.
DeleteI have seen Bruce Castor speak very highly of Risa Ferman many years ago. But perhaps this was before he realized she was a puppet that ignored ethics and morality in decision making. And I was aware that Kevin Steele and Bruce Castor were running smear-type ads against each other in relation to the Cosby circus. And of course this feud could have been avoided if it weren't for a Risa Ferman decision. She decided to ignore Castor's non-prosecution agreement with Cosby and prosecute him anyway 1 day before the statute of limitations ran out on his alleged rape case. And of course, another Risa Ferman decision to falsely charge the Attorney General of PA with perjury alleging Kane "masterminded" a conspiracy--'an act of all'. So Risa Ferman appears to be generating chaos, propaganda, and sensationalism to enrich her "friends" in the media. And of course, all at the expense of the truth and those that are getting close to exposing Ferman's corruption. I sincerely hope that Castor can help Kane expose and prosecute Risa Ferman for the damage she has done to the legal system in PA. Ferman has completely undermined the confidence we should have in that system.
Cosby's lawyers should exploit Risa Ferman's corruption and go after her with everything they've got. And how ironic it would be to see Ferman ruin herself with her mission of creating chaos-driven click bait against others. It would be poetic justice come full-circle. Like you said Ray, "like a boomerang"!