PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A top prosecutor in Philadelphia’s District Attorney office has been disbarred by a federal judge. While the order was supposed to be sealed, the lawyer outed himself when he filed his appeal.
A disciplinary panel of three federal judges said Paul George, a supervisor of the DAO's law division, “repeatedly lied” and misrepresented facts to another federal judge in efforts to get a death penalty sentence overturned — they recommended he be disbarred.
A separate federal judge then signed an order in October disbarring George from practicing law in federal court, adding that related documents are to be kept under seal. However, when George filed an appeal this week, he attached the order and the panel’s report.
In that report, the panel found George intended to further a District Attorney’s Office policy to vacate capital cases.
The case involved Robert Wharton, whom a jury convicted in 1985 of murdering a Mount Airy couple and leaving their baby to freeze to death, though she was later rescued and survived. After exhausting appeals at the state level, Wharton appealed to the federal court to vacate his death sentence, claiming his attorneys didn’t present “good behavior evidence,” which he said could have spared him from the death penalty.
In the midst of the case, District Attorney Larry Krasner’s administration took office.
The panel also found George didn’t investigate or vet the case before siding with the defendant and admonished George for not properly notifying the family. “George’s dishonest statement that the DAO communicated with the victim’s family, including the sole survivor… was an abuse of his position of public trust,” wrote the panel.
As per public city data, George’s salary is more than $175,000. The report also notes that his attorney fees were paid for by the District Attorney’s office and public funds.
KYW Newsradio repeatedly reached out to the District Attorney’s office for comment and answers to a number of questions, but has not yet heard back.