Court: Grand jury judge defied order

judge was well aware that this court had accepted that certification and stayed the effectiveness of the order on which he has relied,” the court said. “Moreover, throughout this litigation, this Court has repeatedly conveyed its overt and manifest intention that the petitioners’ identities be protected pending this Court’s further consideration of their constitutional challenges. This, of course, was reflected in the very nature of the task at hand — a protective redaction of the briefs — assigned to the supervising judge.”

As for jurisdiction: “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court exercises general supervisory authority over all the courts in the commonwealth,” the order said. “A seven-member appellate court is not set up to serve the first-line-of-review function for redacting briefs.”

Judge Krumenacker had jurisdiction because he was appointed by the court, and was “ideally” qualified because he had supervised the entire two-year grandjury investigation.

But since he refused, the court last week designated Judge Cleland to supervise any challenges to redactions in the massive report due out sometime between Aug. 8 and 14. Also Thursday, the court named Judge Cleland to handle lingering disputes over the attorney general’s brief, which still hasn’t seen the light of day except for excerpts quoted by a Supreme Court opinion authorizing the partial release of the report.

Although the court said Judge Krumenacker refused to comply with its order, it did not mention any disciplinary action, just his replacement in order to speed up the process.

Judge Krumenacker is president judge of Cambria County and also supervised a previous grand jury investigation into the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. The current one involves dioceses of Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton and Allentown.