Judge signs order granting permanent injunction against Domenick
Aug. 12—Lackawanna County Commissioner Debi Domenick signed an agreement stipulating she'll be prohibited from accessing emails and stored electronic data of the district attorney's office.
County Judge Terrence R. Nealon then signed the stipulated order Thursday, granting a permanent injunction barring Domenick from accessing those materials.
It provides District Attorney Mark Powell — who sought an injunction preventing Domenick from doing just that — the result he hoped to achieve.
Powell also seeks declaratory relief in court to correct county policy regarding emails and stored data, noting he's optimistic that can be amicably achieved over the coming months. In that event, he said he would withdraw the civil case.
Powell filed court documents seeking the injunction July 6, accusing Domenick of ordering a subordinate to retrieve emails from the county server to gain information about an investigation involving a county prison employee. Certain emails she obtained contained highly sensitive law enforcement information from the district attorney's office, and the injunction is necessary to protect investigative information, he argued in subsequent filings.
Domenick contends she complied with county policy in requesting the emails, never requested or intended to request emails of the district attorney's office or judiciary and didn't receive privileged or confidential information. She accused Powell of sensationalizing his claims and bringing the case for political purposes.
Nonetheless, Domenick agreed in a brief filed Tuesday that she should not have access to district attorney emails without filing a Right to Know Law request.
The brief also referenced the agreement, or stipulation, that Domenick ultimately signed Thursday, which states she "shall be prohibited from accessing emails or stored electronic data of the District Attorney's Office and consent to the issuance of a Court order stating the same."
A lengthy news release issued by Domenick's attorney, Matthew Comerford, emphasizes the stipulation restates and is consistent with her position from the outset.
"It is in no way an admission of wrongdoing, and, because Commissioner Domenick's actions were reasonable, Plaintiff (Powell) would not have been able to establish otherwise," the release reads. "That all being said, Commissioner Domenick is happy to put this political charade to bed by signing the stipulation that she initially proposed because Plaintiff sought to enjoin her from something she clearly had not done and did not intend to do."
"She looks forward to returning to more important matters and furthering the business of her constituents," the release concludes.
Powell — whose office is conducting a separate criminal investigation into a purged prison record documenting Domenick's 1995 confinement at the prison — rejects the claim she did nothing wrong regarding her demand for and access to emails.
"While Commissioner Domenick has finally agreed (to) not search through privileged and confidential emails, I am astonished that she continues to deny she did anything wrong despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary," Powell said in a statement. "Be assured, we will continue our criminal investigation to get to the bottom of why the record from her 1995 incarceration was deleted."
Domenick has denied any involvement in the deletion of the record.
The executed stipulation eliminates the need for an Aug. 16 hearing in the injunction matter, according to Domenick's filed response to an order Nealon issued Wednesday. Powell agreed there is now no need for a hearing.
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