Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, right, leaves the Centre County Courthouse escorted by Centre County Sheriff Denny Nau on Thursday after attending a hearing about his appeal in Bellefonte.

BELLEFONTE — The judge handling convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky’s appeal ordered Pennsylvania’s attorney general Thursday to provide him and the former Penn State assistant football coach’s lawyers any information she might have about possible leaks in the case by state prosecutors and a grand jury judge.

Judge John Cleland gave Attorney General Kathleen Kane one week to provide, under seal, information about “who, what, when and how this information was released.”

The order, made at the end of a long-scheduled hearing into Sandusky’s request for subpoena authority for the post-conviction appeal, came a day after Kane released e-mails in which the grand jury judge told Philadelphia Inquirer reporters he was considering giving them a sealed document about Kane’s effort to remove him from supervising the jury.

Cleland said if he determines Kane has not complied with his order, she will have to appear before him in a closed-door hearing in Harrisburg on Nov. 5.

The judge read an excerpt from a news release Kane issued late Wednesday that accused Barry Feudale, the former grand jury judge, of a reckless breach of court rules.

“Do I understand the attorney general to be saying Judge Feudale and attorneys of the Office of Attorney General orchestrated grand jury leaks in this case?” Cleland asked state prosecutor Jennifer Peterson, who represented Kane’s office at the hearing.

Peterson replied Kane’s comments pertained to the effort to remove Feudale as grand jury judge in 2013 and had nothing to do with Sandusky’s case.

“Our position is that there were leaks in the Sandusky case,” defense lawyer Al Lindsay told the judge. “These leaks were used as an investigative tool. And we think we were severely prejudiced by it.”

If the grand jury process wasn’t fair, the charges should be dismissed, he said.

Lindsay notified Cleland last month he wants to explore contacts between Feudale and state prosecutors, arguing there had been a “systemic breakdown of the grand jury process.”

In response, Kane told The Associated Press on Sept. 30, through spokesman Chuck Ardo, she suspected Sandusky leaks came from within her office.

“The attorney general herself is not convinced that the leaks did not emanate from the office of attorney general and will comply with any subpoena seeking information about e-mail traffic between this office and the judge,” Ardo said at the time.

Cleland questioned Lindsay about whether there is legal authority for him to provide Sandusky with subpoena power. Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence.