James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Declaring that fraud had been committed, "on the court, the jury and our justice system," Judge Jeffrey A. Manning declared a mistrial Thursday in the corruption case against state Sen. Jane Orie after finding that her defense had submitted forged evidence.
Judge Manning repeatedly excoriated the defense after prosecutors presented evidence that the signature of Jamie Pavlot, Ms. Orie's former chief of staff and a key prosecution witness, had been forged on two documents.
William Costopoulos, the senator's attorney, called the charges outrageous and insisted that there was no evidence that anyone on defense was responsible for the altered documents.
"Your outrage is all well and good, but it does not change the facts here," Judge Manning told the lawyer.
When first confronted with the signatures, a clearly irate Judge Manning rejected Mr. Costopoulos' protest that "these were not doctored."
"Ray Charles could see that signature was doctored," he shot back.
Later, the defense lawyer demanded, "Who did it and why are you blaming us for it?"
No one pointed a finger, but the judge made it clear that he couldn't conceive of an innocent explanation.
After twice noting that he was not accusing Mr. Costopoulos himself of any wrongdoing, he said, "You should look to your own house for the culprit."
"I don't know who among the parties for the defense has done this," Judge Manning said at another point. "It's deceitful, dishonest, despicable, and it's a crime.".............
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