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Porn and consequences: McCaffery is suspended from Pa. high court

The chief justice suggests that his colleague may be exhibiting symptoms of a "sociopath."

Pennsylvania state Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery poses in his Center City Philadelphia office Jun. 11, 2010. (Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer)
Pennsylvania state Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery poses in his Center City Philadelphia office Jun. 11, 2010. (Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer)Read more

IT ALL FINALLY got to be too much for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which yesterday suspended Justice Seamus McCaffery.

The other justices tried to stay out of McCaffery's long-running feud with Chief Justice Ron Castille, who must step down at the end of this year because he has reached age 70.

The thinking before: Ride it out and the state's highest court will settle down once Castille retires.

The thinking now: There is a "compelling and immediate need to protect and preserve the integrity" of the court, three of the seven justices declared in an order.

What turned the tide against the former Philly cop?

A big pile of porn and - more important - a claim by Justice J. Michael Eakin on Friday that McCaffery had all but extorted him last week in a bid to get Castille to back down.

McCaffery's spokesman, Frank Keel, said yesterday that the suspension "should surprise no one, given Chief Justice Castille's relentless crusade to destroy [McCaffery's] career and reputation."

Keel predicted that McCaffery will "expose the malicious intent" and be cleared of wrongdoing.

Castille, in a statement concurring with the suspension, again lashed out in a litany of barbs against McCaffery, suggesting that McCaffery's "blame game" excuses for mounting controversies might be the "pathological symptoms" of a "sociopath" who is unable to accept blame for his own actions.

Castille wrote that a "prominent medical journal" defined a sociopath as someone "not caring about others, thinking he or she can do whatever is in that person's own self-interest and having little or no sympathy for others."

Castille disagreed with his three colleagues on one key point: He wants the justices, rather than the state's Judicial Conduct Board, to decide McCaffery's fate.

Only Justice Debra McCloskey Todd dissented, writing that the justices had acted "upon unvetted claims and allegations" - including Castille, whom she characterized as "deeply involved in this controversy." The Judicial Conduct Board exists for "precisely" this reason, she said.

Eakin and McCaffery did not participate in the decision.

The order suspending McCaffery reflects two years of growing controversy, saying:

* He "may have improperly contacted" a Traffic Court official to discuss a ticket his wife received.

* He allowed his wife "to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral fees" from law firms while she worked for the court.

* He "may have attempted to exert influence over a judicial assignment" in Philadelphia.

* He exchanged "hundreds of sexually explicit emails" with Attorney General's Office staff.

* He "importuned" Eakin to get Castille to back down, or else embarrassing emails from Eakin would be leaked to the news media.

That last item seemed to shift the court against McCaffery.

Eakin filed his own complaint with the Judicial Conduct Board on Friday after the Daily News reported that he had received racy and racist emails at a private email account with a fake name.

Eakin told the board that McCaffery called him last week before the emails were leaked to say he "was not going down alone."

Castille's statement yesterday said "that sort of threat borders on criminal conduct."

Yesterday's suspension order says that Castille found some of the photos and videos in McCaffery's emails "extremely disturbing."

Castille chose to be far more descriptive, citing one "depicting a naked 100-year-old woman as the target of a sexually explicit joke and a video of a woman in sexual congress with a snake."

McCaffery last week apologized for a "lapse in judgment" about the emails, while blaming Castille for the "cooked-up controversy" surrounding them.

"This alleged 'cooked-up controversy' has cost the careers of others and perhaps even several marriages," Castille responded, noting that "those individuals had the decency to resign," while McCaffery still draws a salary.

The explicit emails surfaced as part of a review by Attorney General Kathleen Kane of the handling of the child-sexual-abuse case that sent former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to prison.

Gov. Corbett was attorney general during that investigation.

Four of Corbett's former top deputies have resigned from their latest jobs after their emails were exposed by Kane: Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Chris Abruzzo; DEP Chief Counsel Glenn Parno; Board of Probation and Parole member Randy Feathers; and Richard Sheetz Jr., who had returned to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.

As that scandal unfolded in the Governor's Office, Castille demanded that Kane turn over any explicit emails exchanged by state justices or judges.

Castille said yesterday that McCaffery was right on one claim.

"I have been attempting to remove Justice McCaffery from this court," Castille wrote.

McCaffery now may have done to himself what Castille could not accomplish on his own.