Judge John Cleland on Friday granted the Commonwealth’s motion to strike the witness certification for Attorney General Kathleen Kane filed by the attorneys for Jerry Sandusky.
Following arguments on May 2 in which attorney Al Lindsay said that grand jury leaks were one of the central issues for which Sandusky should be granted an evidentiary hearing in seeking a new trial, Lindsay and co-counsel Andrew Salemme filed a witness certification for Kane. In the filing they said Kane would be expected to testify that former deputy AG Frank Fina, who led the prosecution of Sandusky on child sex abuse charges in 2012, did not investigate leaks about the grand jury investigating Sandusky.
In filings related to Kane’s own criminal case, in which prosecutors allege perjury and obstruction charges related to leaks from her office, Sandusky’s attorneys wrote that Kane stated leaks had occurred in recent high profile cases prior to her taking office and that two had occurred in Fina’s cases. She also stated that charges against Sandusky were improperly placed on the state court website while the grand jury proceedings were still secret.
Solicitor General Bruce Castor — who is also the attorney for Centre County DA Stacy Parks Miller in her legal battle with county officials and others — reviewed with Kane a rough draft of the witness certification provided by Sandusky’s attorneys. Castor informed them on the afternoon of May 9 that, ‘Attorney General Kane did not agree with, nor would she testify to, factual assertions suggested in the rough draft of the witness certification.’
The deadline to file the witness certification was May 12. Sandusky’s attorneys informed Castor that they had filed the certification earlier in the day on May 9.
‘No notice was provided to the Solicitor General or any other member of the OAG that counsel for Sandusky intended to file the witness certification in advance of the filing deadline, or that such a certification would be filed prior to Sandusky’s counsel receiving a response with respect to the rough draft that had been submitted for review,’ deputy AG Jennifer Peterson wrote in the motion to strike Kane’s certification.
Peterson argued that because Sandusky’s attorneys sought verification but chose not to wait for it, and that the certification did not reflect how Kane would testify, it should be stricken.
Sandusky is serving 30-60 years in a state correctional institute after his conviction in June 2012 on 45 counts related to child sexual abuse. He will be back in Centre County Court on Friday morning when his attorneys will continue to make arguments to gain an evidentiary hearing as he seeks a new trial.
