Coroner Cyril Wecht another target of Karl Rove's US Attorney scheme?

[PA Democrat]

Many of you have probably seen him on TV at some time. He has been an outspoken critic of the single bullet theory in JFK's assassination, has authored a number of books on high-profile murder cases, and has appeared on TV frequently over the years to provide expert opinion on cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial and the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

Wecht is also a prominent Democrat here in the Pittsburgh area and a former chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Party.

US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanon, a Bush appointee, charged Wecht in January of 2006 on 41 criminal counts, ranging from wire and mail fraud to theft of honest services. His trial ended today in a mistrial, but the prosecution announced that a new trial has already been scheduled for next month.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08099/871436-100.stm

Members of Dr. Wecht's defense team reacted strongly to the prosecution's immediate announcement that it would retry the case.

"We've said all along that these charges should never have been brought," said Dick Thornburgh, himself a former federal prosecutor. "And clearly after the expenditure of untold millions of dollars and the devotion of time and resources of the Department of Justice to this case -- a nickel-dime prosecution, when there is rampant crime, terrorism, other kinds of threats that affect the American people -- to spend all this time on this case, and to announce immediately that they want to retry it after they have utterly failed -- utterly failed -- in their efforts to convict Dr. Wecht, is a miscarriage of justice."

Defense attorney Jerry McDevitt reiterated his belief that the prosecution was politically motivated. Dr. Wecht is a Democrat and U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan is a Republican.

To demand a retrial without reviewing the first trial and to not give Dr. Wecht a respite, "that is vindictive, that is mean-spirited, and it is against everything that United States attorneys . . . are supposed to be about," Mr. McDevitt said.

[PA Democrat]

1. The Dick Thornburgh quoted in the article is former U.S. Attorney General and Governor of PA.

He is a Republican and has said that he felt that the charges were politically motivated.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/004520.php

Tomorrow, Dick Thornburgh, the attorney general for the final year of George H. W. Bush's presidency, will testify to Congress about his experience of the politicization of the Justice Department.

Thornburgh's run-in with Alberto Gonzales' DoJ came via the case of Dr. Cyril Wecht, a celebrity forensic pathologist, prominent Pennsylvania Democrat, and up until his indictment on a raft of fraud charges, coroner of Allegheny County. Thornburgh is one of Wecht's defense lawyers, and his complaints stem from what he's called the "sheer intensity" of the investigation, which involves relatively minor accusations that Thornburgh says should have been handled by the state ethics commission.

As a means of showing the relative triviality of the charges (the 84-count indictment doesn't put a price tag on Wecht's fraud), Wecht's lawyers have calculated that the cumulative cost for the 37 charges in the indictment that involve improperly charging the county for gasoline and mileage costs add up to $1,778.55. The most colorful of the charges, of course, involve the elaborate body snatching scheme: prosecutors allege that Wecht gave a local Catholic university unclaimed bodies in exchange for laboratory space.

The source of the investigation's "intensity" is U.S. Attorney for Pittsburgh Mary Beth Buchanan, a member of the DoJ's inner circle who played a role in the U.S. attorney firings. It's not the first time that Buchanan has drawn fire. During the heat of the scandal, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the district (from 1995-2000, before Buchanan took over) publicly called on Buchanan to resign because of "the extent to which she has looked to Washington for direction and political advancement." Or to put it in plainer terms: Buchanan has prosecuted a number of Democrats but no Republicans.

[Lugnut]

7. Imagine that.

It's been too long since I've heard anything positive about a Republican. Then again it's been too long since Republicans like Thornburg were in government.

[checks-n-balances]

2. No surprise here. We need to get 60 Minutes or Abrams on it.

Good for Thornburgh, especially since he's a Republican (although the decent, old-fashioned type).

[PA Democrat]

4. Cyril was on a local talk show this evening talking about the trial.

The judge in the case is another Bush appointee and is a particularly notorious member of the bench, not for good reasons either.

[AzDar]

3. K & R....

:kick:

[MinM]

5. More proof of the "War on Drugs/Terror" sham too...

Mary Beth Buchanan combines that sham with U.S. Attorney-Gate to create a 'Perfect Storm of Political Corruption'

On September 5, 2001, a woman named Mary Beth Buchanan became the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Six days later United Flight 93 crashed in a field in her Justice Department jurisdiction, and not too far from the small Pennsylvania town she grew up in.

Faced with an immediate connection to the horrors of terrorism and its horrifying impact on the community she grew up in, Buchanan hit the ground running as new U.S. Attorney. She went right out and spent two years and $12 million in taxpayer funds on "Operation Pipe Dreams" rounding up 55 people who sell bongs on the internet (Pennsylvania is one of the two states where such products are illegal to sell).

In the midst of this global war on terror, it's only fitting Tommy Chong would be sentenced on the two year anniversary that day that will live in infamy. We all feel safer knowing he was behind bars for selling a harmless product that's legal to sell almost anywhere.

from Tommy Chong to Cyril Wecht

[PA Democrat]

6. Yep. Our tax dollars at work.

[PA Democrat]

8. Interesting to note that Bush appointee U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan

provided advice to Kyle Sampson as to which U.S. Attorneys should be on the Justice Department's hit list.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-17-fired-prosecutors_N.htm?csp=34

In the interim, Democrats have kept up the pressure. Conyers' committee announced this week that they want to talk to Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh.

Her name came up during a private interview by House and Senate investigators with Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' one-time chief of staff. Sampson told the investigators over the weekend that Buchanan was one of the senior Justice Department officials he consulted on which U.S. attorneys should be asked to resign, according to a senior Democratic aide who has seen a transcript of the interview. The aide requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. At the time, Buchanan was also serving as director of the office that oversees U.S. attorneys.

Buchanan refused to comment.

[MinM]

9. Judge schedules new trial to begin May 27

Some jurors skeptical of case against Wecht

"I guess what bothered me was the FBI went and informed his private clients, 'Look what Dr. Wecht is doing to you,'" the foreman said. "I can understand if they didn't know that ahead of time, OK, fine. But once they were notified, not one of them came forward and said, 'You know something, the government is right, Dr. Wecht cheated me, he robbed me, I would like to file charges, I want my money back, I want something done.'"...

Cannonfire | The great unmentionable in the Cyril Wecht case

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3260004