Appellate Judge Blasts Schwab In Wecht Hearing

It may be months before the three-judge panel of the Third Circuit rules in the appeal of former Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht, but if reports on Monday’s oral arguments are any indication, the outlook for Wecht is good. Jason Cato’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article quotes Senior Judge Franklin Van Antwerpen, who attended via conference call:

This isn’t the fault of the jury. This is the fault of the judge. For all we know, that jury could have been ready to acquit Wecht on all but one count that day. But we’ll never know.

He was referring to the failure of US District Judge Arthur Schwab to poll the jury before declaring a mistrial. He had done so five days earlier, but Wecht’s attorneys argued that they might have sought a partial verdict if the jury had been polled again. Schwab refused to let Wecht’s attorneys interrupt him as he declared a mistrial. Judges D. Brooks Smith and D. Michael Fisher also said that Schwab erred.