Mary's Buggin'
Radley Balko | April 10, 2008, 5:17pm
You may remember her from such hits as "the persecution of Dr. Bernard Rottschaefer," "the first federal obscenity case in 20 years," and "the railroading of Tommy Chong."
Now it seems U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan may have finally stepped in it but good. This week, a federal jury hung on the 41 public corruption charges Buchanan brought against Pennsylvania medical examiner Dr. Cyril Wecht. A majority reportedly voted to acquit. This after a two-year investigation, a very sympathetic judge, and a bizarre trial in which the defense rested without calling a single witness. A loss or even a hung jury is rare for a U.S. attorney. Their conviction rate is over 95 percent.
Wecht's attorneys—including former GOP Attorney General Dick Thornberg—say the case was entirely driven by politics (Wecht is an outspoken Democrat). They point out that the trial itself cost about $200,000, while the total amount of money Wecht is alleged to have used from his public position to aid his private practice amounts to about $1,700.
In one post-trial interview, the jury foreman seemed to agree. The feds immediately announced plans to try Wecht again.
What I'm wondering is how the Department of Justice can see fit to spend two years and likely seven figures in taxpayer dollars to investigate a medical examiner for sending personal faxes on his publicly-owned machine, but thus far has seen no reason to look into Mississippi's Dr. Steven Hayne.
I've argued before that the real scandal with this Justice Department is not that it fired a bunch of prosecutors who didn't share the administration's priorities and political agenda. The real scandal is just how screwed-up those priorities and that agenda actually are.
James from Pittsburgh | April 11, 2008, 6:37am | #
TallDave, you should do more thorough research, because you are not fully aware of the issues of the case. In 1980, the county case you reference resulted in an acquittal of Dr. Wecht on all charges. Years after trial, Dr. Wecht settled pleading without admitting guilt with the county on other charges so that he could become a public figure again. The county wanted him to be the coroner again and this cloud of crap from the 80's was hurting the chances.
As for George Hollis. He plead guilty to a criminal charge and then agreed to testify against Dr. Wecht in exchange for a plea bargain. During Wecht's trial the prosecution refused to call George Hollis. Having seen other bought witnesses such as the ones in the Rottschaefer trial be proven to give perjurer testimony from deals per the coercion of Ms. Buchanan's office staff on them, I understand why they would not bring this SOB on the stand.
In the end, everyone agrees that there were minor billing errors on over 7 million in revenue billings. These billing errors resulted in $1,600 in misappropriated money. When brought to his attention, Dr. Wecht was willing to pay for the costs as he had done in the past. Dr. Wecht was not willing to plead guilty to a criminal act of embarking on a conspiracy to defraud, because he did not. Understand, public corruption cases are to involve quid for pro payoffs and other such exchanges, not pennies for faxes.
What you also failed to find in your research was the real reason for the case against Dr. Wecht. Cyril is an opinionated a-hole at times. A few years back he was called in to investigate a suspicious death at the hands of local police officers. Cyril ruled the man was suffocated by th police and recommended homicide charges. The local DA refused to go against the blue wall. Realizing someone was killed and no one would be held accountable, Cyril published his results. Cyril later testified against the police officers and the county in a wrongful death suit by the victims family. When the county lost the case, the DA vowed that he would see Cyril destroyed for his involvement in the case. The DA was friends with Buchanan and next thing you know, the paper starts getting wind of this federal investigation.
Here are links to background on the Wecht case
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A39852
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A40439
Nikki Grecko | April 12, 2008, 7:04am | #
"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.
