I’d think this would make it tougher for Shapiro to justify his continued crusade against Spanier. Shapiro is all about setting himself up for the next gubernatorial race. If the optics gets bad for him, he’ll back off Spanier.
Frank Fina suspended over misconduct in Jerry Sandusky investigation
- Thread starter ChiTownLion
- Start date
I’d think this would make it tougher for Shapiro to justify his continued crusade against Spanier. Shapiro is all about setting himself up for the next gubernatorial race. If the optics gets bad for him, he’ll back off Spanier.
For me, the most satisfying element to the Baldwin ruling is that the censure is public. That is, she must stand in court and listen while she is censured for her conduct.
As soon as I learn that time and place of this hearing I will post.
As for Fina, his conduct during the Sandusky investigation was shameful. His behavior for me was all that is wrong with our system of justice.
As soon as I learn that time and place of this hearing I will post.
As for Fina, his conduct during the Sandusky investigation was shameful. His behavior for me was all that is wrong with our system of justice.
Calling @Connorpozlee
I am not trying to be argumentative but I do want to ask. Maybe 9-12 months ago there was a thread where you were mildly and consistently adamant that Curley and Schulz were convicted criminals as a result of there guilty plea to a misdemeanor.
Does this decision against Fina - and Baldwin for that matter - soften your stance on that in any way? Than You
I am not trying to be argumentative but I do want to ask. Maybe 9-12 months ago there was a thread where you were mildly and consistently adamant that Curley and Schulz were convicted criminals as a result of there guilty plea to a misdemeanor.
Does this decision against Fina - and Baldwin for that matter - soften your stance on that in any way? Than You
The point I was making then was to point out how some people in this whole situation get blinded in their position and refuse to budge. What I stated was a simple fact: They are legally guilty of failing to protect the welfare of a child. That is what they pled to so it stands as a fact. I will state again as I stated then that I personally do not think (based off of what the actions of everybody involved in the case were) they were guilty of a crime but that is just a personal feeling. Some posters on here (may have been you but to be completely honest, I don’t recall) spent time explaining why they would plead guilty to a crime even if they weren’t. Which was never a question for me. And it certainly doesn’t change the fact they are, as a matter of fact, guilty of failing to protect the welfare of a child because they copped a plea that says so.
Now, if Fina’s disciplinary finding yesterday should cause a change in their conviction I will be happy for them and will have no problem at all stating that they are no longer legally guilty of endangering the welfare of a child. At that point their legal status will align with my personal feelings about them.
It's mind blowing that it took misconduct by the prosecution to achieve 2 misdemeanor convictions against C/S/S.
For the legal experts... Do Curley and Schultz have any recourse? Can they somehow get their convictions expunged?
For the legal experts... Do Curley and Schultz have any recourse? Can they somehow get their convictions expunged?
Didn't they sign some agreement? Honestly, I forget. But, a judge would have to overturn that if indeed it exists.
C/S wanted it all to end so badly they plead guilty to charges everyone knew they were innocent of. I can't imagine they want to try to change things now.
I mentioned in another thread of my growing dislike of bullies hiding behind immunity.
This kind of nonsense, including the misconduct by our former illustrious DA Parks-Miller, should result in a criminal trial, not only the dog and pony disciplinary board.
A law license suspension is a minor bump in the road. Look at Lance Marshall - he was propositioning a sexual assault victim DURING her attacker’s trial so he left the DA’s office and started working on his own in town with no official discipline whatsoever.
Shakespeare had it right!
This kind of nonsense, including the misconduct by our former illustrious DA Parks-Miller, should result in a criminal trial, not only the dog and pony disciplinary board.
A law license suspension is a minor bump in the road. Look at Lance Marshall - he was propositioning a sexual assault victim DURING her attacker’s trial so he left the DA’s office and started working on his own in town with no official discipline whatsoever.
Shakespeare had it right!
Please let us know - and let me be the first to ask - what time do the lots open? I'll be there tailgating it with my Joe Pa cutout.
As much as I loathe Fina, Baldwin, et. al., for their lack of ethics, it was Fina who publicly stated that he found no evidence of a cover-up by JVP (and by PSU, too?). I applaud him for squeezing in a truth among his many instances of deceit. And of course he blemished that truthful statement to a degree by being sanctimonious about the 'woulda/shouldas'.
Does Kane deserve a little thought here, too? It was the unethical Fina who ran her into prison, largely in retribution for uncovering his and his buddies' use of state-owned PCs to share porn... and telling about it. And we know he was guilty of the same leaking crime that she was sent to prison for. Only Fina made it into an art form wrt Sandusky. And like OJ, he promised to go on a hunt to find the real leakers in that instance.
Does Kane deserve a little thought here, too? It was the unethical Fina who ran her into prison, largely in retribution for uncovering his and his buddies' use of state-owned PCs to share porn... and telling about it. And we know he was guilty of the same leaking crime that she was sent to prison for. Only Fina made it into an art form wrt Sandusky. And like OJ, he promised to go on a hunt to find the real leakers in that instance.
I said in a previous thread on this that Fina's leaks = waterfalls compared to Kane's trickle leaks. Kane is in prison and Fina even more so deserves to be in prison!
I think the point is that it's either unlawful or it isn't. There's clearly a double standard in PA.
This is a particularly egregious case (I can't see why criminal charges haven't been brought against Fina for civil rights violations), but prosecutorial overreach is pretty endemic. I think the lesson for everybody should be -- DO NOT cooperate with prosecutors unless you're given a comprehensive immunity. Statements from prosecutors that you're not a target should NOT be believed.
If you do get subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury, either plead the 5th (the Supreme Court has given very wide latitude to people who do this), or sit down with an experienced criminal attorney and hammer out a careful one page summation of what you are going to say, and plead the fifth to literally everything that is not on that page.
Curley, Shultz, and Spanier were all trying to be good citizens, just like a lot of naive people with no experience with the criminal justice system.
They thought they were helping prosecutors investigate the Sandusky case -- but in fact Fina had a secret agenda (Corbett's agenda) to bring down Spanier and they all had their careers and lives ruined as a result. If they had pleaded the fifth they would have still been legally liable based on documents and testimony of others, but they wouldn't have been charged based on their own self-incriminating grand jury testimony.
Prosecutors are great, we need them to clean up our world and put bad people away. But they are like fragmentation bombs. You get anywhere near them, you are liable to be hit by the legal shrapnel. It is very rarely in your interest to cooperate unless they really need you and you and a lawyer have hammered out a written deal that protects you.
If you do get subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury, either plead the 5th (the Supreme Court has given very wide latitude to people who do this), or sit down with an experienced criminal attorney and hammer out a careful one page summation of what you are going to say, and plead the fifth to literally everything that is not on that page.
Curley, Shultz, and Spanier were all trying to be good citizens, just like a lot of naive people with no experience with the criminal justice system.
They thought they were helping prosecutors investigate the Sandusky case -- but in fact Fina had a secret agenda (Corbett's agenda) to bring down Spanier and they all had their careers and lives ruined as a result. If they had pleaded the fifth they would have still been legally liable based on documents and testimony of others, but they wouldn't have been charged based on their own self-incriminating grand jury testimony.
Prosecutors are great, we need them to clean up our world and put bad people away. But they are like fragmentation bombs. You get anywhere near them, you are liable to be hit by the legal shrapnel. It is very rarely in your interest to cooperate unless they really need you and you and a lawyer have hammered out a written deal that protects you.
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You have to wonder if they have any recourse with the Pa. Supreme Court based on prosecutorial misconduct. They could certainly petition the governor. But given how radioactive they are, it's hard to expect that any elected official would want to go anywhere near the case.
just googled michigan football. No headline at all about doctor. Then i typed doctor and then Michigan investigating team doctor, came up.
unbelievable.
unbelievable.
Charles Thompson article in Pennlive. Wasn't Fina sending the porn emails as well? This is weak.
First, Kane’s review turned up - quite by accident - the existence of a private circle of attorneys and agents within the AG’s office that was routinely trading pornographic images. Fina was among the circle of recipients.
First, Kane’s review turned up - quite by accident - the existence of a private circle of attorneys and agents within the AG’s office that was routinely trading pornographic images. Fina was among the circle of recipients.
No surprise. Chuckles is President of the Corbett Fan Club, and Fina is Corbett's guy.
Recipient? Geez. The first 50 pages in this compilation were sent by Fina: https://web.archive.org/web/2017050...al_Porn_emails_396_pages_complete_8-26-15.pdf
If I could teach a high school or college class, it would be "Everyday Citizen Law". It would teach what is and what is not permissible when detained by law enforcement. It would also teach what is and what is not evidence. It would highlight due process.
For example, is is completely OK for a police officer to lie to you. What you can and cannot do when an officer asks if you've been drinking, to step out of the car, that he/she is going to search your car, etc.
I love 99% of law enforcement officers. However, way too many have been corrupted by local, state and federal "rewards".
Yep. It's another thing that's like sausage. We absolutely depend on the thin blue line. Life in a lot of places (like the city) would be impossible without it. Somehow we have to let the good cops (and prosecutors) know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice and at the same time get rid of the bad ones who are more about personal ambition than doing right. Hopefully we've seen the last of Frank Fina as a prosecutor.
I had a class at U Park like that taught by a prominent Judge. He told us as students if a cop asks to search your vehicle simply don't give him permission. I wish I paid more attention in that class.
Hey, I notice all of the shills are missing from this thread. What happened, guys? Or did the paychecks stop?
I'm not sure how she could have done a job she was never qualified to do.
Rumor has it that Baldwin fell flat on her face when hired by a private firm. All that Supreme Court Judge apparently was all part of the Commonwealth Corrupt Network. BOT hired her (a former BOT Chair), I believe the first outside counsel ever..... at a very curious time. Wendell Courtney (McQuaide-Blasko) was outside counsel from about 1980-2010. Curious guy, Mr. Courtney. Picked up the PSU gig, almost immediately after passing the bar. Represented both PSU and TSM....wife was employed by PSU and had strong ties to TSM.
It isn't hard to find the "kingmaker" in the careers of Baldwin, Corbett and Courtney.
Her surpreme court judgeship was purely a political fill-in move by Ed Rendell.
You can add Rendell to the 3 names I mentioned in my post
In OT news not worthy of its own thread, our own illustrious former DA SPM has had an indirect contempt charge filed against her today.
Of course her attorney, former “special” DA Bruce Castor says it’s because Centre County is vindictive and did it because she can finally get her law license back - not mentioning it was referred to the state AG back in September by Cantorna due to conflict of interest and the state AG’s office chose to persue it.
Of course her attorney, former “special” DA Bruce Castor says it’s because Centre County is vindictive and did it because she can finally get her law license back - not mentioning it was referred to the state AG back in September by Cantorna due to conflict of interest and the state AG’s office chose to persue it.
Figured that. Strange that an organization as large as PSU didn't have a General Counsel for so long. From what I recall at the time, it didn't seem to have a legal department. Remedied that with a vengeance, as only PSU can do when it comes to ramping up staff levels.
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