VS.
Prosecutors rest in Bonusgate case
Friday, March 05, 2010
By Tracie Mauriello, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- After five weeks and 29 witnesses, prosecutors at 4:15 p.m. rested their case against former state Rep. Mike Veon and three former aides in the government corruption trial known as Bonusgate.
Defense attorneys are expected to begin calling witnesses Monday in a trial that is lasting much longer than predicted.
SOP has learned that the Judge did not issue a ruling on the House Democratic Representative subpoenas issued by Veon's attorneys including Todd Eachus and James Wansacz. It appears he will deal with them case-by-case as they come up according to Tracie.
Attorneys for House Democrats and the potential witnesses said the request could run afoul of the special constitutional protections given to the internal discussions of the Legislature. The attorney general's office told Lewis the witnesses may also seek to exercise their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
In this article that appeared in the Times Leader back on July 7,2009 Eachus and his spokesperson, Brett Marcy were quoted as saying this:
Eachus wanted to make it clear that the subpoenas were not served by the attorney general or any law enforcement agency, but by the defense. He said he and current HDC staff have “cooperated fully” with the attorney general’s investigation.
HDC spokesman Brett Marcy said Eachus was not among the legislators who testified before the grand jury, nor was he interviewed by any law enforcement officials regarding the Bonusgate case.
Again we ask the question- How did Todd Eachus make the claim of fully co-operating when his spokesman says he never talked to anyone?
More importantly why didn't Todd Eachus show up at the grand jury when he was sent a Christmas time invitation to appear by AG Tom Corbett? They wanted to know whether Eachus had any information concerning state money and resources that were misused for political purposes. One would believe than an elected official who had any knowledge of wrongdoing would want to do the right thing for the taxpayers.
Instead Mr. Eachus et al are resisting any attempts including failing to appear before the Grand Jury to discuss the matter. Never mind that fact that Grand Jury witnesses "fingered" Eachus in the Bonusgate matter. One would believe he and others would welcome the opportunity to refute those allegations if there weren't true.
Next week will prove to be an interesting week in this saga. Stay tuned.
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