Orie lampooned amid demons in DA exhibit

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Sen. Jane Orie’s attorney charges that the public corruption prosecution against his client is a political vendetta by a district attorney out to demonize her and on Monday supplied what he contends is proof from an unlikely source: a photocopy posted on the wall of the DA’s investigative unit.

William Costopoulos introduced the composite picture captioned “Jane Orie Photo Array” during the first day of her pretrial hearing on theft of services and conflict of interest charges.

The photocopy appears to be a mock photo lineup, a collection of mug shots shown to help witnesses identify a criminal perpetrator.

The photocopied display shows Orie’s picture juxtaposed with four others: two demons, an unknown person making a funny face and a photo of Detective Lyle Graber, the lead investigator on her case.

Graber was testifying about several search warrants he obtained when Costopoulos unexpectedly began asking if Graber possessed any “disparaging” photos of Orie. When Graber said he didn’t, Costopoulos produced the photocopy, which Graber denied making but acknowledged seeing “several” times near a receptionist’s area at his investigative offices in suburban Dormont.

“Has this investigation become a joke in your office?” Costopoulos asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Graber said. “For me, it isn’t.”

Costopoulos then asked if Graber had any “personal animosity” toward Orie.

“No, I don’t know the senator. I have no animosity towards her,” Graber said.

Costopoulos has argued the prosecution of Orie, a Republican, by Democratic District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. is political and motivated by her opposition to the gambling industry, in which the prosecutor’s father and other family members have an interest.

Zappala spokesman Mike Manko declined to comment Monday afternoon but said the office may release a statement about the exhibit later in the day.

Costopoulos refused to say how or when he got the photocopy. Assistant District Attorney Law Claus, who is prosecuting Orie, told Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning that the photocopy is meaningless unless Costopoulos can prove Graber made it and if the defense can prove it existed before Graber started investigating Orie in October 2009.

That’s when an intern from Orie’s office filed a written complaint with Zappala that Orie’s legislative staffers routinely did campaign work on state time. Zappala’s office obtained more than a dozen search warrants for Orie’s office computers, e-mails, cell phone and other records before charging Orie and her sister, Janine, in April.

The charges were based on a 66-page grand jury presentment detailing testimony from at least 15 current or former Orie staffers who said they did — or saw other staffers do — campaign or fundraising work for Orie or another sister, Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, from 2001 through 2009.

Jane Orie was re-elected in November, but Janine Orie has been suspended from her $67,000-a-year job as Melvin’s aide. Melvin has not been charged, though her attorney J. Alan Johnson has acknowledged a grand jury is investigating related allegations against her.

Johnson, a former federal prosecutor best known for the Major League Baseball cocaine prosecutions in Pittsburgh in the mid-1980s, attended and took notes at Monday’s hearing, which is set to resume Tuesday.

Costopoulos is arguing that the search warrants are based on faulty information or incorrect assumptions or that investigators violated Jane Orie’s rights by obtaining her personal correspondences as they looked for evidence. Graber said investigators were careful to have a court-appointed mediator screen the seized materials and turn over only those items that could be relevant to the criminal investigation.

Costopoulos also contends the state’s conflict-of-interest statute is unconstitutionally vague. Judge Manning didn’t hear arguments on that motion Monday but is expected to Tuesday once testimony on the search warrants wraps up.

Manning must also decide whether to select an out-of-county jury for the Feb. 7 trial. Zappala contends that Orie’s claims of prosecutorial bias have tainted the jury pool.

As an experiment, Manning and the attorneys questioned 81 people summoned for jury duty Monday and found that 47 of them knew about the case through the media and 10 had formed “fixed” opinions about Orie’s guilt or innocence.

Manning didn’t rule on the jury motion, however, and was expected to hear arguments on that as well Tuesday.