Paging the Attorney Disciplinary Board in Pennsylvania…
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing. Follow me by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]
So there has been a lot of events in Sandusky-land, particularly the interview between Sandusky and Bob Costas, which attorneys agree has been sort-of a disaster. Consider this answer to the question of whether he fit the profile of a pedophile: “I didn’t go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I’ve helped.” Which, gosh seems like an implicit confession that he has done that with at least some of the children he helped through his charity. And for this some people have criticized his lawyer, Joe Amendola, for allowing this to go on. But bluntly, there are some clients too stupid to listen to their lawyers, so I am not going to knock Mr. Amendola for that. I will give him the benefit of the doubt by assuming he told his client ahead of time that this was a mistake.
But there is a funny consequence that comes with representing a client in a high-profile case; it throws the spotlight on you, too. What I am about to say doesn’t bear in the slightest bit on the guilt or innocence of Sandusky, but I find it independently interesting/horrifying, if true:
Defense attorney Joe Amendola, 63, representing Sandusky in the sexual molestation case roiling Penn State and Joe Paterno’s legendary football program, impregnated a teenager and later married her, The Daily has learned.
According to documents filed with Centre County Courthouse, Amendola served as the attorney for Mary Iavasile’s emancipation petition on Sept. 3, 1996, just weeks before her 17th birthday.
The emancipation request said Mary graduated from high school in two years with a 3.69 grade point average and maintained a full-time job — but makes no mention of any special relationship between her and her lawyer.
Roughly around the same time, however, Iavasile became pregnant with Amendola’s child, and gave birth before she turned 18, her mother, Janet Iavasile, alleged in an interview with The Daily.He was born in 1948 and was around 49 at the time.
“At the time, I didn’t know the extent of the relationship,” said Janet of when her daughter first began spending time with the attorney. Amendola seemed more like Mary’s “mentor,” she added.
“She met him through the school district; she was interested in the law,” Janet said.
Court records show the two were married on Feb. 8, 2003, around the time her mother says their second child was born. They are now separated, but she has kept his surname.
Now as of today, here are the relevant rules. First, the age of consent in Pennsylvania appears to be 16, so it isn’t statutory rape. At the same time, the rule on sexual relations between an attorney and his/her client is more or less this: you cannot have sex with our client, unless you were in a consensual sexual relationship before you entered into an attorney client relationship. So none of this was a slam dunk (assuming both of those rules were the same back then—which may not have been the case). I could see a scenario (with extra creepiness added) where he started this relationship and then said to his teenage girlfriend, “hey, let’s get you emancipated so that we can have even more sex together without mom interfering!” But even in that scenario, while he steps around the technical rules regarding sexual relations with his client, it raises the concern that he was giving her legal advice driven more by his needs, than what is best for her.
I am not saying he has definitely violated any of the Rules of Professional Conduct for certain. I can imagine scenarios where he avoids doing so. I am just saying that the situation is questionable enough that the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court or Pennsylvania needs to look into it now that the public has been informed of this conduct.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
I do not know if he violated the PA rules; I don’t know the PA rules and have no call to.
But his behavior violates *my personal* rules for ethical conduct, and even reading about it leaves me squeamish.
Comment by aphrael — 11/17/2011 @ 12:09 pm
The sex might have happened after the attorney-client relationship was over.
He may have been her attorney for the emancipation petition, which I suspect was a quick one-day thing (make an appearance in court with the petition, get it signed, you’re done). Since the petition was before her 17th birthday, and the child could have been born as much as a year later, he could have dinged her after the A-C relationship was over.
Which doesn’t make it any less ookey.
Comment by Kman — 11/17/2011 @ 12:14 pm
By far the most interesting legal stories are Professional Responsibility stories, IMO.
I can only imagine how the parents feel about the lawyer representing their child’s emancipation taking advantage of the child.
She probably didn’t have the wisdom to see this coming, but of course an older dude who likes 16 year olds is not a long term relationship prospect for 16 year olds who haven’t discovered the fountain of youth.
Comment by Dustin — 11/17/2011 @ 12:23 pm
Sounds like a match made in hell. Sandusky and his lawyer, I mean.
Comment by JD — 11/17/2011 @ 12:27 pm
Why, why, why, am I not surprised!
Comment by AD-RtR/OS! — 11/17/2011 @ 12:30 pm
There are legal pedophiles (Sandusky) and moral pedophiles (Amendola). Hardly a coincidence that these two hooked up.
Comment by Icy — 11/17/2011 @ 12:32 pm
He should hang.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 12:47 pm
OMG they wanna privatize education!!!Eleventy!!!One
-OWS protesters
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 12:57 pm
Jon Stewart said it best a coupla days ago: “What kind of creepy guy club” do they both belong to? “If you’re accused of sex with minors, maybe your criteria for finding a defense lawyer shouldn’t be ‘also has issues with sexual boundaries.’”
Comment by Anita Busch — 11/17/2011 @ 2:04 pm
Well I don’t have all the facts but Sandusky acted like a perv.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 2:05 pm
Anita, you do have to wonder how they paired up.
Maybe they met at Frum Forum?
Comment by Dustin — 11/17/2011 @ 2:07 pm
Dustin
maybe the guy has gotten NAMBLA business in the past…
Comment by Aaron Worthing — 11/17/2011 @ 2:08 pm
I hope that Sandusky gets his nuts kicked in forever.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 2:10 pm
The lawyer was a big contributor to the Sandusky’s Second Mile Club, which was founded for at risk kids. Makes you wonder how “at risk” they were.
Comment by Anita Busch — 11/17/2011 @ 2:12 pm
I feel like Sandusky is mentally ill, but those who covered it up are criminals. I’m more angry at the ones who conspired to cover the sick guy’s actions.
Comment by Anita Busch — 11/17/2011 @ 2:14 pm
Anita at 15
did the second mile club cater to at risk teenage girls?
dang, i just creeped myself out.
Comment by Aaron Worthing — 11/17/2011 @ 2:24 pm
I think Anita sadly has a pretty good instinct to find that alarming.
If he’s willing to sleep with his teenage client, of course he’s willing to take advantage of other people whom he should feel a duty to protect.
Comment by Dustin — 11/17/2011 @ 2:29 pm
What about the judge who first arrainged Sandusky…she was on the board of his organization. How did the court administrators allow that to happen, and why didn’t they wholly reverse her and increase or revoke his bail once they woke up?
Comment by sam — 11/17/2011 @ 8:23 pm
It gets more complicated
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/11/16/second-mile-chairman-was-political-donor-to-judge-who-reduced-jerry-sanduskys-bail/
Comment by narciso — 11/17/2011 @ 8:30 pm
No surprise narciso.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 8:31 pm
Do you want Obama the dumbass running the country libs?
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 8:41 pm
DohBiden, dude, try decaf.
Comment by SPQR — 11/17/2011 @ 8:48 pm
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 8:49 pm
Srah Palin said something I agree with
Time to hang Sandusky the pedo.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 8:50 pm
Cleanup on aisle 18. Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam.
Comment by Milhouse — 11/17/2011 @ 10:34 pm
What did he mean Milhouse?
Honestly I get passionate about these thigns but yes my mouth does get me in trouble pat.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/17/2011 @ 10:47 pm
I’m talking about comment #18, which is spam.
Comment by Milhouse — 11/17/2011 @ 10:52 pm
The lawyer was a big contributor to the Sandusky’s Second Mile Club, which was founded for at risk kids. Makes you wonder how “at risk” they were.
Comment by Anita Busch — 11/17/2011 @ 2:12 pm
– Looks like they were the most at-risk AFTER joining the club.
Comment by Icy — 11/17/2011 @ 11:26 pm
Aaron:
Bob Costas said that it was the lawyer who suggested that they talk to Sandusky. This was done less than 1/2 hour before they were supposed to go on the air and the lawyer said something along the lines of “Hey if I can get Jerry on the line, do you want to talk to him?” What journalist in their right mind would turn that offer down?
I think Sandusky should be strung up by his balls, but it sounds to me like he is getting terrible legal advise.
[Edited to fix misspelled nick (as the owner himself indicated). --Aaron]
Comment by Ipso Fatso — 11/18/2011 @ 3:32 am
Ipso
there, i used my superpowers to fix your nick. its the danger of posting so early in the morning/late in the evening.
Comment by Aaron Worthing — 11/18/2011 @ 5:16 am
Even a fish wouldn’t get caught if he’d keep his mouth shut.
Comment by Algonquin J Calhoun — 11/18/2011 @ 7:23 am
And what was comment 18 is now gone, renumerating all subsequent comments, and making my #25 and #27 (which used to be #26 and #28) puzzling.
Comment by Milhouse — 11/18/2011 @ 10:05 am
Sandusky is human trash.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/19/2011 @ 8:03 pm
The OWS protesting Wall Street because they got bailed out……..why don’t they focus their ire on Obama who bails these people out.
Comment by DohBiden — 11/19/2011 @ 8:09 pm