Judge expected to rule on Sen. Orie ethics searches

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A western Pennsylvania judge is expected to rule whether investigators illegally searched Republican state Sen. Jane Orie’s phone, e-mail and computer records as part of a criminal ethics investigation.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning is expected to discuss his findings at a final pretrial hearing today.

Prosecutors say Orie’s state-funded legislative staff did campaign work for herself and her sister, Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, who was elected to that office in 2009.

Orie’s attorneys say prosecutors should have subpoenaed Orie’s records instead of seizing them with search warrants, and want the records kept out of evidence as a result.

A trial for the senator and a third Orie sister, Janine, suspended from her job as Melvin’s aide, begins Feb. 7.