Pa. AG Kane Releases Explicit Emails Tied To Supreme Court Justice
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Attorney General Kathleen Kane on Thursday made good on her promise to release emails received by a state Supreme Court justice that include nude photos and videos of women, raunchy and juvenile humor and other content demeaning to women.
The three dozen emails or email exchanges recovered from her agency's servers, and which she tied to Justice Michael Eakin, were recovered during the course of an unrelated investigation.
She sent the material to the state Judicial Conduct Board for review and to determine whether the justice has undermined confidence in the state's highest court.
Much of it had already been the subject of stories in the Philadelphia Daily News or was described by Kane this week in a letter to Chief Justice Thomas Saylor.
In nearly all cases, Eakin is the recipient rather than the sender.
The emails and their attachments are a mixture of photos, text, slide shows and videos. One short video clip appears to show, from behind, a man having sex with a hugely obese woman while the music from "Mission Impossible" plays.
Much of the content appeared to be intended as humor.
A series of fake "motivational posters" included one that says "you failed the gay test" if you noticed a sponsor's logo in the background behind four scantily clad women on a beach volleyball court.
An email captioned "morning funnies" showed children, some still infants, seeming to ogle women's bodies, posing with empty beer bottles or making obscene gestures. There were also clips that included a family dinner interrupted when the apparent daughter rips open her shirt, telling her parents: "I got these pierced because I hate you."
One email included a photo with a joke about what happens when you use corn on the cob as a sex toy.
The only email sent by Eakin showed an elementary schoolteacher in the classroom asking her students for two examples of an abstract noun, something they can think of but not touch. The answer, from a boy student? Her breasts.
Eakin also is part of an email conversation that apparently involved a golf outing, beer and "hot chicks." Under the pseudonym John Smith, he chimed in with: "Where's your spirit of closure - Stoney left the poor girl hanging."
Eakin did not respond to a message seeking comment Thursday. He previously apologized for what he called "insensitive" content in his private email account, and said it was out of character for him.
Kane has argued the emails could violate court rules that require judges to act in a way that promotes public confidence in the judiciary and that prohibit them from acting in ways that would appear to undermine their independence, integrity and impartiality.
The attorney general is herself awaiting trial on charges she leaked secret grand jury material to the Daily News and lied about it, allegations she has repeatedly denied. A suspension of her law license took effect Thursday, although she remains in office and has said she will continue to perform most of her official duties.
The attorney general's office recovered hundreds of sexually explicit, crude and sometimes pornographic images in emails exchanged among state prosecutors, judges and others while investigating the agency's handling of the Jerry Sandusky sexual molestation case last year.
The scandal resulted in dozens of people being fired, disciplined or forced to resign, and also caused the abrupt retirement of another Supreme Court justice, Seamus McCaffery.
Eakin's role in the email circle was investigated a year ago, and he was cleared.
But Kane has raised fresh questions about whether the investigation was conducted properly. The Judicial Conduct Board and a lawyer hired by the Supreme Court are currently taking another look.
Kane said Wednesday that the material in Eakin's email account was offensive to all Pennsylvanians and worse than described by the Judicial Conduct Board in a letter last year telling Eakin the complaints against him had been dismissed.
"This set of emails is, however, only a subset of the pornographic, misogynistic and racist emails received and sent by Justice Eakin," she said in a note provided to reporters with the emails on Thursday.
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