From the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE:
State court experts and critics reiterated calls Sunday for State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin to step aside because of what one observer called stunning testimony in the corruption trial of sister Sen. Jane Orie this weekend.
The prosecution’s key witness in the case testified for the first time that Melvin helped direct the removal of political material from the senator’s office. A public charge such as that carries much larger ramifications for the state’s highest court than reports that a justice is under investigation, said John Burkoff, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Burkoff and two state reform advocates said Melvin should recuse herself from the court until this case ends.
Melvin, 55, of Marshall and her attorney, J. Alan Johnson, could not be reached for comment yesterday. She has not been charged with any crime but has been notified that she is a target of an Allegheny County grand jury investigation. She has not publicly commented on the case…
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