Panel: Ex-Pa. prosecutor who investigated Penn State scandal should be disciplined

HARRISBURG — Former state prosecutor Frank Fina should have his law license suspended for violating professional conduct rules during his investigation of child sexual-abuse cover-up allegations against top Pennsylvania State University officials, a Pennsylvania disciplinary board said Thursday.

The board that oversees attorney conduct recommended that the suspension should last a year and a day. The matter now goes to the state Supreme Court, which will make the final decision.

Fina’s “actions undermine the public trust and bring shame to the profession,” the board’s vice chair, James C. Haggerty, wrote in the opinion, adding that the board believed Fina had not shown “any remorse.”

Fina, who is now in private practice, could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Dennis McAndrews, noted in a statement that Thursday’s opinion ran contrary to previous court findings that indicated that Fina had acted “appropriately and ethically.”

McAndrews added that Fina will submit documentation to the Supreme Court that will establish that position.

Thursday’s opinion marked another twist in the long-running saga and public debate over the state Attorney General’s Office’s successful prosecution of serial child molester Jerry Sandusky; and the subsequent conviction on child endangerment charges of former Penn State president Graham Spanier and two top aides — then-athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz.

The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court’s opinion grew out of a complaint that in his inquiry into Spanier, Curley, and Schultz, Fina improperly gathered testimony from the university’s then-general counsel, Cynthia Baldwin. Because Baldwin had represented the university in the early stages of the inquiry, the board found that Fina violated an ethical rule barring prosecutors from turning defense witness lawyers into witnesses against former clients.

In March, the Disciplinary Board recommended that Baldwin, who served on the state’s highest court, be publicly censured for providing the testimony. During such proceedings, attorneys appear before the state Supreme Court and are publicly rebuked. The high court has not yet weighed in on Baldwin’s case.

In issuing its opinion Thursday, the Disciplinary Board rejected a finding late last year by a three-lawyer disciplinary panel that Fina did not violate professional rules. It noted that the subpoena of Baldwin was signed not by Fina but by Bruce Beemer, his superior as chief of staff to the attorney general and a member of the team pursuing the case.

Sandusky, 75, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was convicted in 2012 of molesting 10 boys over more than a decade. He is serving a minimum 30-year sentence, effectively a life sentence.

Curley and Schultz, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to child endangerment charges for not reporting Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children, have completed two-month jail sentences.

Last month, a federal judge overturned Spanier’s conviction on the child-endangerment charge. It did so on the eve of when Spanier was to report to jail to begin serving a two-month sentence. The attorney general has appealed that decision.