Probe Targets Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Two special prosecutors were appointed Friday to investigate allegations of wiretapping, kickbacks and conniving by state Supreme Court justices.

The dispute pits Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement official against its highest court. The court has refused to cooperate with Atty. Gen. Ernie Preate’s investigation, which will be led by special prosecutors Edward S. G. Dennis Jr. and James E. Tierney.

“Their charge from me is, as in every case, to go wherever the evidence leads and let the chips fall where they may,” Preate said.

The investigation will focus on allegations that Justice Rolf Larsen made two weeks ago against fellow Justices Stephen Zappala and Ralph Cappy. Both voted last October to reprimand Larsen for alleged unethical conduct.

Preate asked the justices to provide evidence this week, but the court refused on Thursday. The justices are “duty bound to make no comment regarding matters that are pending before the court,” a court lawyer wrote to Preate.

“I cannot accept the letter as an appropriate response,” Preate said, adding that Chief Justice Robert N. C. Nix Jr. pledged to cooperate.

Larsen challenged the reprimand two weeks ago with a motion to the high court for a new hearing. In the motion, he said Cappy helped in the appeal of a criminal defendant who then agreed to testify against Larsen in the disciplinary proceedings.

He said Zappala secretly taped telephone conversations and received “indirect kickbacks” for helping a relative win contracts from municipal governments with cases before the court, and then guided the cases through the court in “a special manner” that Larsen did not explain.

Larsen, in line to become chief justice after Nix, also said in his petition that Zappala and Cappy were trying to advance their careers and had “enormous cravings and appetites for power.”

The 2-1 vote to reprimand Larsen came following allegations that he improperly approached a county Common Pleas Court judge in 1986 to discuss a pending case. Justice Nicolas P. Papadakos cast the lone opposition vote. Nix, Larsen and one other justice disqualified themselves from the case. There was one opening on the seven-member court at the time.

The special prosecutors will be assigned two state police investigators. They also have been promised support from the U.S. Justice Department’s public integrity section, which investigates officials.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is one of nine in the nation whose members are elected. The justices serve 10-year terms.