Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Jurors Have Questions for Judge

Jurors in the public corruption trial of the former Pennsylvania House Democratic Whip have resumed deliberations this morning after beginning the day with some questions for Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis.
The judge told the jury they could not render a verdict on one or more defendants until they had reached a decision on all four. The jurors also asked the judge about conspiracy charges and Lewis told them that members of a conspiracy can be convicted of crimes committed by other members.
Lewis told the jurors they are not entitled to see former State Representative Mike Veon's campaign records or a January 2007 newspaper article that launched the grand jury investigation because they were not admitted as evidence in the trial.
Veon and 3 former aides, Brett Cott, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink and Stephen Keefer are charged with theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest for allegedly using taxpayer dollars to give bonuses to staffers for doing campaign work while on state time. The jurors had deliberated 20 hours Friday, Monday and yesterday.

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