2nd Pennsylvania justice resigns over raunchy email scandal
Source: Associated Press
2nd Pennsylvania justice resigns over raunchy email scandal
Mark Scolforo, Associated Press
Updated 3:31 pm, Tuesday, March 15, 2016
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) A second Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice quit the bench Tuesday in a widening scandal over raunchy and otherwise offensive emails that he and others exchanged with friends and lawyers.
Justice Michael Eakin's decision to retire marks the latest fallout since embattled state Attorney General Kathleen Kane began releasing hundreds of emails in 2014 to the media and ethics agencies. Kane has since been indicted on perjury and other charges that she claims were trumped up because she took on the old boys' club of Pennsylvania's judiciary and law enforcement.
Eakin's lawyer, Bill Costopoulos, said at a news conference that an ethics trial on charges related to the emails, which had been scheduled to start in two weeks, would not proceed. He said Eakin would agree to the allegations, leaving "nothing left to try."
"This is the only process I know of in America where you can be charged with sending emails to friends that were inappropriate and face the death penalty," Costopoulos said. "I just don't think that's right."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/2nd-Pennsylvania-justice-to-resign-over-porn-6890973.php
warrprayer
(4,734 posts)And they can"t stand it.
Judi Lynn
(160,663 posts)Second Pennsylvania judge resigns amid 'Porngate' scandal
Reuters
By Barbara Goldberg
19 minutes ago
(Reuters) - Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin resigned on Tuesday, the second jurist to step down after being accused of using state computers to exchange sexually and racially offensive emails with his peers.
Eakin, 67, a Republican first elected in 2001, tendered his resignation from the state's highest court after admitting to sending approximately 18 "inappropriate" emails to friends, according to a statement form his lawyer, William Costopoulos.
Eakin is the second Supreme Court justice caught up in the email scandal, dubbed "Porngate" by local media.
Justice Seamus McCaffery, a Democrat who traded offensive emails, was suspended by his fellow justices in October 2014 and later resigned. Several other state officials linked to the scandal have also stepped down.
More:
http://news.yahoo.com/second-pennsylvania-judge-resigns-amid-porngate-email-scandal-201433415.html