Ex-Pa. representative’s 2nd trial opens today

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa.

On the eve of former Rep. Michael Veon’s second corruption trial, legal jousting between the prosecution and defense Wednesday tested the patience of Dauphin County Judge Bruce Bratton.

Opening arguments in the jury trial of the former House Democratic whip and his co-defendant, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, are scheduled today.

During a lively two-hour discussion, lawyers for the defendants raised the possibility that the attorney general’s office destroyed investigatory notes that might have weakened portions of its case.

Prosecutors denied any misconduct, saying notes are destroyed only after their contents have been “memorialized” in other records, but declined to give a “yes” or “no” answer that Veon attorney Dan Raynak repeatedly demanded.

“There’s no answer that’s not going to result in 10 more questions,” said Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina.

The discussion also covered defense worries that prosecutors might try to confuse jurors with testimony about activities irrelevant to the case and the status of testimony by a witness who has since died.

The judge said he would rule on the lawyers’ objections as they crop up during the trial and noted that he has barred the state from entering the statement of the man who died.

Veon and Perretta-Rosepink, who ran his former district office, face corruption charges that allege they misused state funds for the Beaver Initiative for Growth, a nonprofit organization Veon ran in his former Beaver County district. Both face charges of theft, conspiracy and conflict-of-interest.

Veon, 55, is already serving a six- to 14-year prison term for his 2010 conviction on 14 counts related to spending more than $1 million in public funds on bonuses to reward legislative employees for campaign work and other political activities.