Obama's Republican (Bush Loyalist) USA's Political Case Continues to Disintegrate

When will the Bush political operatives be run out of the Obama administration?

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May 15, 2009 - http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/hbc-90004997
The Cyril Wecht Case Continues to Disintegrate

Four months into the Obama Administration, loyal Bushie Mary Beth Buchanan is still clinging tenaciously to her post as U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh and is pursuing a politically flavored prosecution of former Allegheny County coroner Cyril Wecht. But after a federal appeals court ruled that the case had to be reassigned to an impartial judge, taking it away from George W. Bush-appointee Arthur J. Schwab, she’s having an extremely hard time. Yesterday, Judge Sean J. McLaughlin issued a 55-page ruling that all but eviscerated the case Buchanan has been attempting to bring. In the three year war of Buchanan versus Wecht, it’s increasingly looking like a decisive win for Wecht.

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Judge throws out evidence in Wecht case
Thursday, May 14, 2009 - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09134/970241-100.stm
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The federal judge who took over the case against former Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht issued a 55-page opinion this afternoon that could conceivably end the entire prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin threw out evidence seized during the execution of two search warrants that was essential to the government's case. Requests by Dr. Wecht's defense team to suppress the warrants -- one for the search at Dr. Wecht's private offices on Penn Avenue and another for a laptop used by his administrative assistant -- were both granted.

Dr. Wecht was originally indicted in January 2006 on 84 counts related to misusing his public office for private gain. His first trial, which began in January 2008, ended with a hung jury. The prosecution immediately announced it would retry him. However, Dr. Wecht's attorneys filed a number of appeals. Though the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not dismiss the case, it did appoint a new judge to oversee it. The court found that all parties would benefit if U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab were removed.

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Obama has such a nice personable demeanor. Let's hope that hidden from public view there is an LBJ side. Maybe that is why he chose Rahm for chief of staff.

A prosecution can easily bankrupt a person ... I have seen a friend be found not guilty by the jury in less than an hour, but he will be paying his lawyer for the remainder of his life.