Thursday, June 6

BigTrial: "Reprehensible" Fina faces suspension of license

Ralph Cipriano of BigTrial.net's coverage of the ODC ruling to suspend Frank Fina's law license

Frank Fina Gets Spanked!

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Frank Fina finally got his comeuppance.

In a 36-page report issued today, the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court called for a suspension of the former deputy attorney general's law license for a year and a day. That recommendation now goes to the state Supreme Court.

Fina, the former lead prosecutor in the so-called Penn State sex abuse case, got blasted yesterday by the disciplinary board for his "reprehensible" and "inexcusable" conduct in purposely duping a grand jury judge into thinking that Fina wasn't going to press Cynthia Baldwin, Penn State's former counsel, into breaking the attorney-client privilege and betraying her former clients -- three top Penn State officials -- behind closed doors.

After conning the gullible judge back in October 2012, Fina then "proceeded to question [Baldwin] extensively about the very subjects he represented to Judge [Barry] Feudale he would avoid," the disciplinary board concluded. "These actions are reprehensible" and "inexcusable," the disciplinary board wrote. In addition, the board found that Fina's alleged defense of his behavior before the board was "without substance." Fina turned defense attorney Baldwin "into a witness for the prosecution against her clients," the disciplinary board wrote. And when confronted with his misconduct, he showed no remorse.

Read more at: http://www.bigtrial.net/2019/06/frankie-fina-gets-spanked.html

3 comments:

  1. I'm not so sure Judge Barry Feudale was "gullible" so much as a Fina crony. They were very chummy, seemingly too chummy for a judge and prosecutor.

    Was Judge Feudale present in the grand jury session when Fina questioned Baldwin about things that violated attorney-client privilege? If he was, why didn't Feudale stop Fina?

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    1. Tim,
      Thanks for you comments.

      Interestingly, the October 26, 2012 transcript doesn't say WHO was overseeing the GJ as judge (there is a block that is redacted on that page). That said, Feudale oversaw the colloquy held just four days prior and her testimony was taken in front of the 33rd GJ that was overseen by Feudale.

      I agree Feudale was a "crony" or otherwise a collaborator with Fina in the protection of The Second Mile.

      Finally, the transcripts contain many false statements from Baldwin but one in particular stands out and obviates her contention that she was deceived and didn't know it until the Freeh Report was released. As such, the crime-fraud exception she tried to argue was nonsense.

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  2. Prosecutors and judges (mostly former prosecutors) in PA operate under the code of Muerto. They all have each other's back. Judges act as advocates for the prosecution rather than neutral arbiters. Frank (The Rat) Fina and his understudy Josh (nobody is above the law) Shapiro should be domare con pesche. They both provably suborned perjury multiple times. Disciples of Seth Williams, they knew how to fabricate victims and evidence and convince naive juries that fictional crimes happened. The media always endorsed the false narrative, convicting innocent people before then had a chance to defend themselves.

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