Michael Eakin

HARRISBURG — A second Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice quit the bench Tuesday in a widening scandal over raunchy and otherwise offensive e-mails that he and others exchanged with friends and lawyers.

Justice Michael Eakin’s decision to retire marks the latest fallout since embattled state Attorney General Kathleen Kane began releasing hundreds of e-mails in 2014 to the media and ethics agencies. Kane has since been indicted on perjury and other charges that she claims were trumped up because she took on the old boys’ club of Pennsylvania’s judiciary and law enforcement.

Eakin’s lawyer, Bill Costopoulos, said at a news conference that an ethics trial on charges related to the e-mails, which had been scheduled to start in two weeks, would not proceed. He said Eakin would agree to the allegations, leaving “nothing left to try.”

“This is the only process I know of in America where you can be charged with sending e-mails to friends that were inappropriate and face the death penalty,” Costopoulos said. “I just don’t think that’s right.”

Eakin, 67, has been on the state Supreme Court since 2002. He’s a Republican and former district attorney in Cumberland County, which includes Harrisburg’s western suburbs.

Justice Seamus McCaffery, a Democrat, abruptly retired in 2014 after being suspended by the court for his role in swapping the e-mails.

Eakin was cleared at that time, but in September, Kane reignited the investigation by releasing more exchanges that included photos of naked women, sexually suggestive themes, gender and socio-economic stereotypes, and content that was anti-gay and made light of violence toward women.

The e-mail scandal, centered on the attorney general’s office, has already led to dozens of people being disciplined, fired or resigning under pressure.