Weirdness in Wecht Trial Continues
Radley Balko | April 11, 2008, 10:17am
Yesterday, I posted about a hung jury in the federal corruption trial of Pennsylvania medical examiner Cyril Wecht, and the allegations of political motivation in the case on the part of U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan.
The case just gets odder. The judge apparently also instructed the jurors not to talk to attorneys or the media—even after the trial was over, and even though the jurors were under no legal obligation to obey his request.
Now, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that at least two jurors have been contacted by FBI agents, who requested interviews in their homes. Buchanan's office says this is routine. Other attorneys the paper interviewed say they never heard of such a thing, and that it smacks of intimidation.
James from PIttsburgh | April 11, 2008, 12:55pm | #
TallDave, the case you reference is a civil proceeding and mater which is where this federal case should have been relegated in my opinion. Dr. Wecht settled the civil case out of court. The settlement was for $200,000 and he did not admit guilt. To my knowledge, the civil case dealt with co-mingling funds of the county and his private practice (i.e. he kept bad books yet did not do so deliberately). There was no proven allegation of criminal wrongdoing since all counts were either dismissed or he was acquitted on. The author of the article does not mention this fact explicitly because he is writing a pro-Roddy article during the election of that time period.
Anyhow, in the situation of Dr. Wecht in the 1980's, he lost the civil trial and appealed the decision. While the appeal was in limbo, it is my understanding that the DA agreed to settle with Dr. Wecht in an agreement in which he paid $200,000 and Dr. Wecht did not admit any wrong doing.
The issue I have been raising all morning has been related to the criminal court proceedings. Please read up there is a difference on criminal charges and civil charges. The argument you put forth earlier today is that Dr. Wecht is guilty of a criminal act today because he was acquitted on a claim of a similar criminal act in 1980s. Do you understand how flawed such a viewpoint is? I do not mean to be crass in my response here, I just want to be direct enough that you see the issue that you have raised initially.
I do not mean to continue this discussion because I feel that my supplying you with information and source material has only resulted in you ignoring the material and attacking me personally since I provided an opinion that you do not agree with. I ask you simply read up on the current case and come away with an informed opinion on the case. For the record, the 1980 proceedings would not be admissible in a court of law during the present trial.
If you truly feel that Dr. Wecht should be held criminally liable for using a county fax machine and sending out three packages which cost the taxpayers $1,600, then you are right to argue that he is guilty because this was what he was accused of in the end after the prosecution dismissed 43 out of the 84 counts Wecht was indicted on.
In my viewpoint, this case is at most a civil matter that should have been settled out of court prior to wasting taxpayers money and investigative resources. However, if I am wrong, then I guess we will have to open up the jails more to send everyone that has used their employer's fax machine for personal use to jail. I imagine there are not too too many people out there that do such.
James from Pittsburgh | April 11, 2008, 10:27pm | #
So here you go again.
"I bet prosecutors had a much bigger number."
Actually, the prosecution was requested multiple times to provide a financial number behind the claims and could not. They were requested at the time of indictment, prior to trial, and even during the trial.
Wecht's lawyers provided a statistic that the prosecution did not object to.
"I don't have any reason to doubt that."
Unfortunately, many local politicians do. The head of the Republican Party in Allegheny County, Jim Roddy, says the case should be dismissed. As for the use of the FBI against, two US Representatives have already commented that such use seems to be to intimidate jurors and future jurors in the second case.
Here's a link:
http://www.wpxi.com/news/15859327/detail.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20080411_ap_defense2usrepscriticizefbicallstowechttrialjurors.html
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1280
Sorry to hear there are so many issues in Chicago, but please stop attempting to say the situation in Pittsburgh is like your situation in Chicago.
Once again though, I ask that you read up on the case prior to giving an opinion. You would have read that the prosecution was unable to provide a financial number in the case.
Well, you can continue to push you right wing viewpoints, and I will continue to push the facts with links to news stories and related coverage.
Nikki Greco | April 12, 2008, 7:07am | #
"When a medical examiner can't deposit official fees into his personal account and emebezzle money to his friends via a ghost payroll -- well, if that's wrong, I don't want to be right."
Ah, buddy, A JURY FOUND THE GUY INNOCENT OF THESE CHARGES. An ALLEGATION OF A CRIMINAL ACTIVITY IS NOT IN ITSELF PROOF OF GUILT.
Here is background on the case. In 1979, the county controller informed Dr. Wecht that he owed the county $100,000 for using the county morgue for his own private practice. Wecht countered and said that he did not. Because of refusing to cooperate with the controller and county, Wecht started a long drawn out battle with the county that sparked into criminal charges being filed.
Of the multiple criminal charges brought against Wecht, all charges were dismissed except one. A jury acquitted him of this remaining charge. That means the jury found that the allegations were not proven. Wecht not proven to be embezzling funds and no one accused him of creating a ghost payroll. If he had created a ghost payroll, the case would have ended with a different result.
After the criminal trial, the issue still stood that Wecht used county resources. Since a jury decided Wecht did not have criminal intent in the use of the resources, basically decided he did not intend to embezzle funds, the issue remained that Wecht still had to compensate the county for using county resources. In the subsequent civil proceedings, Wecht continued to argue over the amount he owed. A jury awarded the county an amount greater than estimate $100,000 first put forth. Wecht and his lawyers disagreed, so the appeals process began. In the end, the county settled out of court with Wecht prior to the appeal being decided. Wecht paid the county back $200,000 and admitted no guilt.
Many know the case in the area and feel that the issue was created by Wecht and his staff's poor book keeping and Wecht's unwillingness to back down from a fight.
When Wecht was voted back into the coroner's office, the concern was raised about repeating this whole debacle again. Wecht and the County worked it out that he needed to pay all county employees a separate salary for any work they did. Wecht also kept an office next door to the county office that was fully outfitted to handle the private cases.
