Wecht Attorneys Seek Dismissal, Source Of Juror Names

Attorneys for former Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht on Monday asked US District Judge Arthur Schwab to dismiss all charges against Wecht and to bar a retrial, asserting that Schwab erred in not following certain steps following last week’s declaration of a mistrial and that a retrial would subject Wecht to double jeopardy. Wecht’s attorneys also asked Schwab to order prosecutors to reveal how they obtained names of jurors contacted by the FBI last week after the mistrial was declared, asserting that that both sides were under strict orders from the judge not to record the jurors’ names (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

In a Monday Pittsburgh Tribune-Review op-ed, columnist Ralph Reiland lambasts USA Mary Beth Buchanan, calling her a thief and a fraud for wasting millions in public funds on the prosecution. And a Tuesday Tribune-Review editorial characterizes the prosecution “up to and including the questioning of the jurors, [as] nothing less than outrageous.”