Mundy
PITTSBURGH - A disgraced former prosecutor has won his law license back, 17 years after an extramarital affair with a 16-year-old boy was uncovered.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on July 2 ruled in favor of Anthony Cappuccio, who while serving as Bucks County's chief deputy district attorney also engaged in a sexual relationship with a member of a youth group at a Perkasie church.
Cappuccio's status in the Bucks County DA's office led parents to trust him with the youth group, of which he served as a leader from 2005-2008. But while parents thought he was simply taking the boys to concerts, he was also giving them alcohol and smoking marijuana with them.
In 2008, he began a consensual physical relationship with a 16-year-old boy that escalated to oral sex. Cappuccio told the boy to keep it a secret because of his age and because Cappuccio was married.
A 2008 criminal investigation led to a 2009 guilty plea to three counts of endangering the welfare of children and other counts. He spent six months in jail, then years on probation, and was disbarred in 2009.
He asked for reinstatement in 2016 and was denied by a hearing committee of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and then the Board itself. While he could've appealed to the state Supreme Court, he chose not to - against the advice of his lawyer.
"No, I think - I'm hearing the Board say I need more time, more time needs to pass. I'm going to let it go and let it breathe," Cappuccio testified in his second reinstatement process, started in 2023.
"Because they know far more than I do about where my case falls on the spectrum of cases, disbarment and reinstatement. They're the experts, not me, and I need to listen to that."
Supporters of this second effort included his treating psychologist, who said Cappuccio had maintained "the significant gains he made during his treatment." She added that she had no concerns of him committing any type of criminal offense.
Cappuccio said he and his ex-wife enjoy a good relationship to help raise their two teenaged sons. He said his misconduct came from "selfishness, sense of entitlement."
All this convinced the hearing committee to reinstate his license, but the Board disagreed. His abuse of power while employed as a top law enforcement official in one of Pennsylvania's largest counties, the "calculated and insidious gain of the trust" of the boys in his youth group and his continuation of the sexual relationship after being caught by his then-wife were grounds for permanent disbarment, the Board said.
The nature of his wrongdoing is "so repugnant and offensive to the legal profession and the public interest in general" that it must prevent Capuccio from ever practicing law in Pennsylvania again, the Board held.
But the Supreme Court reversed, finding Cappuccio had matured and accepted responsibility for his actions. The court had found those factors lacking recently in another case when it chose not to reinstate a lawyer caught up in a drug ring.
"Critically, Cappuccio has expressed remorse for his misconduct, and has reflected, on numerous occasions, on his actions and the damage they have caused," Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy wrote for the unanimous court.
He's also shown he is not predisposed to future misconduct and has the moral qualifications, competency and knowledge required to practice law, Mundy wrote.
"Collectively, through both reinstatement proceedings, Cappuccio presented the testimony of over a dozen witnesses, including a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, a retired police lieutenant, and several forer and current workers," she wrote.
"Together, these witnesses commented on Cappuccio's positive rehabilitation, which the 2017 Board described as including 'transformational changes.'"
