Eagen admits, explains lie to DA

The April 1997 lie consisted of instructing attorney Paul Walker, his counsel at the time, to tell Mr. Barrasse that he would accept his offer to resign in exchange for not being prosecuted.

Mr. Eagen said he wanted to head off the release of a letter informing him he was the target of a grand jury investigation, something he felt would put him in legal limbo and lead to his defeat in an election seven months later.

The concession was made during Mr. Eagen's cross-examination by Deputy Attorney General Patrick Blessington, which ended testimony before the Dauphin County jury. It came after attorney William Costopoulos led Mr. Eagen through a direct examination that covered his life as well as the case.

Senior Judge Barry Feudale of Northumberland County told the jurors they would begin deliberating today after closing arguments and his instructions to them. A verdict is expected by the end of the day.

Mr. Blessington hammered at Mr. Eagen's lies, but the former judge maintained it was his only chance.

"I knew once I got the target letter, he would never take it back," he said.

The exchange captures the main question that will have to be answered by the jurors: Is Mr. Eagen guilty of taking bribes as charged or is he the victim of a plot by Mr. Barrasse to drive him from office so he could run for the vacancy? Charges that he obstructed the investigation into his activities are considered secondary.

Mr. Eagen also conceded that he lied to reporters for the Times-Tribune newspapers when he denied that he had been visited by two investigators who told him on April 2, 1997, that he was the target of the investigation. His hoodwinking of Mr. Barrasse occurred the next day.

The strategy worked temporarily because James Rusnock emerged a few days after the April developments to say that Phillip Bosha, the man who says he paid Mr. Eagen $1,850 for appointing him to guardianships, told him he was lying about the judge's involvement. Mr. Bosha pleaded guilty in state and federal courts to looting estates of incapacitated people.

Mr. Rusnock's statement blunted the investigation's progress for months. But Mr. Barrasse did issue a target letter on Oct. 21, 1997, which is widely believed to have caused Mr. Eagen's defeat at the polls some two weeks later. Mr. Barrasse is a candidate for judge on Nov. 2, but maintains he is not seeking Mr. Eagen's seat.

Mr. Blessington pointed out that the Oct. 21, 1997 letter offered Mr. Eagen a chance to appear before the Lackawanna County grand jury that later recommended his arrest.

The defendant said the offer was hardly considered.

"(Mr. Barrasse) wanted to drag me before a grand jury ... days before an election," he commented. "It was a charade to embarrass Frank Eagen."

Mr. Eagen pointed out that Mr. Barrasse even offered not to prosecute him in December 1997, after he lost his judgeship.

"If I accepted," he said, "I wouldn't be here."

The animosity Mr. Eagen holds for Mr. Barrasse was evident. He termed the entire experience that started in February 1996 "an episode from 'The Twilight Zone.'" He also said, "this wasn't an investigation, it was a sieve," because of the "never-ending" negative news stories about him.

He said Mr. Barrasse also tried to deceive him on April 3 by saying that he had a witness to a payoff that took place at a home in Archbald.

"I knew it was a bluff to set me up to get me out of office," he said, because he was never on the property. No such testimony was offered at the trial.

Mr. Barrasse committed perjury at his preliminary hearing when he replied "absolutely not" to a question about offering a no-prosecution deal, Mr. Eagen insisted. He did not back down when Mr. Blessington contended the wording of the question was confusing.

Mr. Eagen agreed with Mr. Blessington that he has fought back hard by holding news conferences, passing out fliers and complaining about Mr. Barrasse to the state disciplinary board that polices attorneys and the U.S. Department of Justice.

"I will get a pickup truck with a bull horn to tell what happened," Mr. Eagen said, "and when the pickup runs out of gas, I will walk."

He did not disagree when Mr. Blessington declared, "You're still running for office."

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