Defense attorney in court arguing to have evidence from search warrants suppressed
As the attorney for Sen. Jane Orie (R – Allegheny), and for her sister Janine Orie, argued to have evidence suppressed during pre-trial hearings this week, prosecuting District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. is requesting to have the jury selected from outside Allegheny County.
State Sen. Jane Orie (R-Allegheny)
“At various times throughout the past year, numerous allegations have been made by defendant Sen. Jane Orie, and others on the defendant’s behalf, disparaging the office of the district attorney, the district attorney himself, and even more significantly, to denigrate the (good faith) prosecution,” Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus wrote when requesting the jury to be selected from outside the county.
Sen. Orie is facing corruption charges including theft, conflict of interest and tampering with evidence as part of an alleged effort to have her staff work on her sister State Supreme Justice Joan Orie Melvin’s election campaigns in 2003 and 2009. Janine Orie worked in Justice Orie Melvin’s office and is facing trial with her sister Sen. Orie.
The defense for the Orie sisters has argued the charges are politically motivated, pointing to Sen. Orie’s opposition to the Gaming Act of 2004 and Mr. Zappala’s family connections to the gaming industry, though Mr. Claus responded to the allegation by stating the connection between Mr. Zappala and the industry was not raised “until after the initiation of the industry.”
Sen. Orie’s claims, however, were perhaps given more weight after her attorney produced a photo composite from the district attorney’s office which shows the senator in a criminal lineup with two demons, an unknown person making a funny face and Det. Lyle Graber, the lead investigator in Sen. Orie’s case.
When the mock photo lineup was introduced in court Monday, Mr. Graber denied having a copy but admitted to seeing the photo in the investigative unit office.
Monday, presiding Judge Jeffrey Manning conducted a blind jury sample to see whether the jury pool has been tainted, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Of the 81 people in the jury sample, 47 told Judge Manning they have heard about the case and 10 said they believed they had a “fixed opinion,” preventing them to serve as an impartial juror.
Additionally, seven of the people in the sample live in Sen. Orie’s district and two said they had a fixed opinion.
It could all be for naught, however, as the attorney for Sen. Orie and Janine Orie, William Costopoulos, is arguing the evidence against the sisters was seized without probable cause.
“Those motions include but are not limited to a plethora of motions to suppress because there were over 20 search warrants executed in this case,” said Mr. Costopoulos. “The reasonableness of that invasiveness will be addressed.”
If the evidence is suppressed, Mr. Costopoulos said the prosecution would have “next to nothing to go on.”
“From all indications, we’ll go on that date unless Judge Manning issues rulings that will preclude the prosecution from going forward,” said Mr. Costopoulos. “If we would prevail on our motions to suppress, the Commonwealth would have next to nothing to go forward with, and they have very little anyhow.”
Mr. Costopoulos has also filed a motion for the district attorney’s office to recuse itself from the case as part of the pre-trial hearings.
The sisters’ trial is currently scheduled for Feb. 7.
Documents from an earlier grand jury investigation into Justice Melvin are still under court seal, and the sisters’ attorney said those will not be used as part of the trial.
