Sandusky prosecutor and former Penn State lawyer disciplined

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A lawyer who led the child molestation investigation and prosecution of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky lost his law license for a year Wednesday over his handling of a grand jury witness in the case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled.

The justices issued a 5-1 decision to suspend Frank Fina's license for a year and a day, agreeing with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel that Fina's actions were improper in obtaining grand jury testimony about three top university officials by then-Penn State General Counsel Cynthia Baldwin.

Baldwin, who also was accused of violating professional rules for lawyers in her representation of the officials, was given a public reprimand by the high court Wednesday. Messages were left for her lawyer and at her home.

Joe McGettigan, a lawyer who also was a prosecutor during Sandusky's 2012 trial, and who represents Fina in the disciplinary matter, said he will seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. He declined to comment further.

In Fina's case, the court issued a brief order that did not lay out the majority's analysis, but in a concurrence, Justice David Wecht called Fina's punishment “manifestly appropriate." He said lawyer-client privilege issues should have been hammered out before Baldwin testified.

“Instead, Fina chose to mislead the supervising judge, causing that jurist to believe such resolution was unnecessary because Fina undertook to refrain from inquiry into areas of potential privilege,” Wecht wrote. “Fina promptly reneged on those assurances. This conduct fell far below the ethical standard we rightly demand of a prosecutor in this type of situation.”

During oral argument before the high court in November, Amelia Kittredge with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel called Fina “someone who cannot or will not...