Misconduct

A former city employee who investigated police misconduct says city officials fired him last year for giving to Philadelphia Daily News reporters information that led to their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on police corruption. In a federal lawsuit filed here Friday, Wellington Stubbs, who was the chief investigator for the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission, created to handle reports of police wrongdoing, said Mayor Nutter and the deputy mayor for public safety, Everett Gillison, retaliated against him for helping the Daily News.

I have never experienced a more egregious abuse of the criminal-justice system by a prosecutor than what was orchestrated by former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham in filing murder charges against William Barnes for the death of Walter Barclay. To pursue an official charge of homicide involving a death that occurred 41 years after the original injury without having a complete autopsy performed and before obtaining and thoroughly reviewing all of the victim's medical and hospital records is truly incomprehensible and connotes serious professional negligence - if not personal malevolence.

Chief Inspector Anthony DiLacqua, who heads the Philadelphia Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau, is leaving to become director of security at SugarHouse Casino. "It's tough to walk away from something I've loved so long," DiLacqua, 50, a 29-year veteran, said yesterday. "We have a saying that this is the ticket to the greatest show on earth. You see people at their best and their worst. You get to make a difference . . . but it's been 29 years and I think it's time to do something new. I'm looking for new challenges.

During a break in the Bonusgate corruption trial that wrapped up last month, several jurors toured the state Capitol to get a sense of where some of the alleged crimes were committed. That represents "jury misconduct" and is grounds for a mistrial, according to an attorney for one of the defendants convicted in the cash-for-campaigning case. Dauphin County Court Judge Richard A. Lewis has set a hearing for Friday on the motion filed by Michael Palermo, a lawyer for Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, the former district office manager for State Rep. Mike Veon.

A lawyer for two defendants in the Bonusgate corruption scandal is attempting to turn the tables on Attorney General Tom Corbett, accusing him in court documents of the very activities he is prosecuting. In motions filed in Dauphin County Court, lawyer Joshua Lock asked a judge to dismiss charges against former State Reps. Steve Stetler (D., York) and Brett Feese (R., Lycoming) and to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Corbett for "misconduct. " Among the 48 exhibits Lock attached to his motions were records reportedly showing that Corbett routinely used his campaign cell phone to contact staff in the Attorney General's Office during state work hours.

When Pennsylvanians heard the so-called climategate scandal involved a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, the orderly world of the ivory tower was suddenly invaded by a shouting match worthy of talk radio. Confronted by a torrent of complaints and concerns from the public and from state officials, the university started a familiar procedure - a misconduct inquiry, which escalated into an investigation last month, focused on the activities of climatologist Michael Mann.

Juror misconduct yesterday scuttled a death-penalty trial for a West Philadelphia man accused of killing two people and wounding a third in an attempted takeover of a crack-cocaine ring. Common Pleas Court Judge Steven R. Geroff, who has presided over the three-week trial, declared a mistrial in the second day of jury deliberations after learning that several jurors had begun deliberating and commenting on evidence before the trial's end. Geroff's ruling means a new trial for Comoniti Thomas, 22. He is charged with the April 13, 2006, slayings of Vincent Thomas, 17, who was not related, and Latisha Barber, 20, and the attempted murder and shooting of Brian Ruffin, 25. Prosecutors allege that Vincent Thomas and Ruffin were Thomas' partners in a crack ring operating out of a house in the 10000 block of Ferndale Street in the Northeast.

Alex Ovechkin was kicked out early, the Washington Capitals fell behind 3-0 and that's when they showed why they have the NHL's best record and highest-scoring offense. Nicklas Backstrom scored unassisted with 1 minute, 50 seconds left in overtime, his second goal of the game, to give the visiting Capitals a 4-3 comeback victory yesterday over the Chicago Blackhawks. "It's a strong sign, especially now at the end of the season," Backstrom said. "We know [Ovechkin] is a key to our team and he scores a lot of goals.

A Pennsylvania State University committee yesterday cleared climate researcher Michael Mann of professional-misconduct charges but said it would further investigate whether the scientist "deviated from accepted practices. " The inquiry was prompted by events in November, when hackers exposed more than 1,000 e-mail messages exchanged among climate scientists, many of which were sent to and from Mann. No formal allegations were made against Mann, but the university decided to launch the inquiry after a flood of public complaints and accusations against the climatologist.

When Maureen Graham was having trouble, be it cracking an investigative story for The Inquirer or helping a loved one in need, she would often pray to St. Michael, the warrior archangel. "If things didn't turn around right away," Inquirer reporter Larry King said yesterday, she would tell him, " 'I'm going to have to have a word with St. Michael. He needs to do something.' " In time, she even insisted that King, a lifelong Presbyterian, pray to St. Michael. " 'But I'm not even Catholic,' I would protest," he said.