More On Chuck McCullough (Yet Again)

Today, I am quoting the Trib but not to criticize what it says there. I'm just setting the stage:

What a mess: A judge once again has delayed the felony theft trial of Chuck McCullough of Upper St. Clair. And that means Republican voters could nominate for Allegheny County chief executive a fella in the May primary who, if convicted, would have to be yanked from the November ballot. Mr. McCullough, you'll recall, won an at-large County Council seat four years ago, after the criminal investigation was publicly known. Democrats are highly amused.

There are two more amusing things to be found at the P-G. First some more info from McNulty:

Republican county executive candidate Chuck McCullough got some great news last week.

Just about every story on the attorney and former Allegheny County councilman-at-large mentions two things: that he's awaiting trial on charges he stole money from elderly client, and that the trial is set May 9, just a week before the May 17 primary. Can you take the second half of that out of the boilerplate.

Last week Common Pleas Court Judge Donald Machen granted a postponement of the trial, as requested by defense attorney Patrick Thomassey. They plan to schedule a new one this week.

McCullough was charged in February 2009.

He is running against tech executive and Mt. Lebanon commissioner D. Raja for the party's nod for exec. Tea party official Patti Weaver dropped from the race March 23.

The postponement, we are told, is due to an out of state personal matter Chuck's defense attorney has to attend to.

In case you've forgotten the charges, here's the what the P-G had to say in February, 2009:

The Allegheny County councilman accused nearly two years ago of improperly making $40,000 in political contributions from an elderly widow's trust fund has been charged with 23 criminal counts, including theft, misapplication of property, criminal conspiracy and making false reports.

Charles P. McCullough, who was elected in 2007 after some of the allegations had come to light, was arrested yesterday and released on $20,000 straight bond.

Also charged was Mr. McCullough's sister, Kathleen, who is named in relation to the trust account in the jury presentment. She also was charged in a separate embezzlement case.

His sister's already been convicted of that separate embezzlement case, though Chuck was involved in that case, too.

And why is this so amusing? From the other report at Early Returns yesterday:

The first poll on the GOP side of the county executive race shows Chuck McCullough with a 6-point lead over D. Raja, with a lot of undecideds and high negatives for both candidates, according to PoliticsPa.

An automated poll of 385 registered Republicans by Municipoll for PP showed McCullough with 30% to 24% for Raja, with 46% undecided and a 5 point MoE. The high negatives? 21% for McCullough and 18% for Raja.

From PoliticsPa:

However, McCullough’s pending legal issues seem to have put a dent in his approval ratings. A mere 5.4 percent of voters have a favorable impression of the Councilman, who has been accused of defrauding an elderly widow. (The Post-Gazette reported Sunday that his trial has been postponed until after the May 17 primary). 21 percent have a negative opinion of McCullough, with 73 percent undecided.

The local powers that be in the GOP are not happy. From the Trib:

The delay could bring political help or damage to McCullough, 56, a Republican from Upper St. Clair, said GOP Chairman Jim Roddey. But it's definitely bad for Republicans, he said.

If McCullough would defeat D. Raja, 45, of Mt. Lebanon in the primary, but gets convicted of bilking the multimillion-dollar estate of widow Shirley Jordan before the general election in November, he would have to be removed from the ballot.

"Unfortunately, I think there's a real risk," Roddey said. "I don't know what the contingency plan would be."

So with all that bad press (and some serious legal action pending) McCullough is still 6 points up among likely Republican voters and nearly three quarters are still undecided?

THAT'S amusing. Even from a non-Democrat like me.

Chuck MccUllough Update (Hint: He's At It Again)

From the Post-Gazette, a few days ago:

Citing “serious, inexplicable errors” designed to protect an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge from having to answer allegations of wrongdoing, former county councilman Chuck McCullough has asked the state Supreme Court to take control of his criminal case.

The lengthy petition seeks the unusual remedy of King’s Bench review and asks Pennsylvania’s highest court to determine whether Judge Lester G. Nauhaus should be permitted to impose punishment on Mr. McCullough on 10 criminal counts at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 17.

“The process used by the Allegheny County Courts in this matter is plainly a matter of public concern because it violates all established judicial protocols with respect to the handling of a motion for recusal,” wrote defense attorney Adam Cogan of Ligonier. “The need for this court’s immediate intervention in this matter is clear.”

Wait, is that another defense attorney for Chuck?

Last time we took a peek the McCullough non finisce mai romanzo legale we learned this from the Trib:

Attorney Megan Will of Somerset, McCullough's fifth defense attorney in a case that has dragged since 2009...

Does this mean Attorney Cogan has replaced Attorney Will or is simply co-counsel? The Post-Gazette, yesterday, gave us the answer:

On Tuesday, Mr. McCullough and a new attorney, Adam Cogan, filed an application for King’s Bench review which, if granted, would allow the state Supreme Court to take control of the case. The petition alleged a series of serious errors at the evidentiary hearing and asked that a new, out-of-county judge be assigned to sentence Mr. McCullough, or in the alternative to assign the case to the state Superior Court for further proceedings.

So that would make Cogan, by my count, Chuck's sixth defense attorney.

Back to questa storia continua.  From The Trib:

[Deputy District Attorney Michael] Streily wrote [in response to McCullough's request that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court exercise its “King's Bench” power] that if McCullough had testified about the alleged conversations between Pushinsky and Nauhaus, where he said the judge had a mutual friend tell Pushinsky to “go nonjury,” he could have avoided the attorney-client privilege Pushinsky cited in refusing to testify at the hearing. The District Attorney's Office later charged McCullough with perjury and obstructing justice because he had sworn his decision to waive a jury was made without threats or promises, making either that waiver or his petition for recusal false.

McCullough's attorney seemed stymied when another witness at the hearing refused to identify who told him that Nauhaus had talked to his secretary about convicting McCullough. But she could have simply called the secretary to testify, since she was at the hearing, Streily wrote.

The Trib adds:

The proceedings are the latest in a case that has dragged on for six years. McCullough remains free on bond.

As of Friday the State Supreme Court had yet to decide whether to take up the case, though this Trib piece puts some interesting framing on the idea:

Use of a King's Bench Review is relatively uncommon in Pennsylvania, one of the few states that retains that power drawn from English Common Law. Out of 2,949 cases brought to the Supreme Court in 2014, only 2 percent — or 65 cases — were King's Bench reviews. Of those, only one was granted, said Art Heinz, spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

So they're rare.  Chuck McCullough is out on bond and as of today, it's been 2,487 days since Chuck was arrested.  We already know that the trial itself, at 2,353 days, lasted longer than:

• WWII in the Pacific - December 7, 1941 (Attack on Pearl Harbor) to August 15, 1945 (VJ Day): 1,347 days
• WWII in Europe - September 1, 1939 (Germany invades Poland) to May 7, 1945 (Germany Surrenders) 2,075 days
• Nixon Presidency - January 20, 1969 (Nixon's First Inauguration) to August 9, 1974 (Nixon's resignation): 2,027 days
• Civil War - April 12, 1861 (Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumpter) to April 9, 1865 (Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox): 1,458 days

But here's one I bet none of the citizens of Steeler Nation has pondered.  You remember, in the late seventies, when The US was bludgeoned by economic malaise, bad disco even worse TV?  And yet even with all that crap there was some miraculously good football being played at Three Rivers Stadium.  Good enough for Dem Stillerz to win 4 Super Bowls in 6 years (IX, X, XIII and XIV).  Remember that span of time?

It was 1,834 days or 519 days shorter than the 2,353 days it took to bring Chuck McCullough to trial.

This story just. Won't. End.

A Chuck McCullough Update - What's Known So Far

For those happy few not following the trial of former County Council member Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough, let me bring yinz up-to-date, en at.

While I have spent a few hours watching the trial from the back row of the court (and most of it is absolutely fascinating), I fear I lack the necessary journalistic/legal background to adequately and fairly comment on everything I've seen.  Lucky we have some competing newspaper reporters (Paula Reed Ward of the P-G and Bobby Kerlick of the Trib) covering the event as well as a smattering of TV coverage.

So let's see what the local press has had to say.

Day One (Monday, April 13)

The Trib:

After six years, two attorneys, several postponements and thousands of pages of documents, former Allegheny County Councilman Chuck McCullough took a seat at the defense table Monday, ready to fight charges that he stole thousands of dollars from an elderly widow.

Prosecutors charged McCullough, 60, of Upper St. Clair in 2009 with abusing his power of attorney to steal nearly $200,000 from the $14.7 million estate of Shirley Jordan, who died in 2010 at age 93. McCullough, a Republican who served as county solicitor for a year before he was a county councilman from 2007 to 2011, is charged with two dozen counts, including nine counts of felony theft.

The P-G:

When Charles McCullough was serving as co-trustee and power of attorney for an Upper St. Clair widow, he made several requests to PNC Bank on how to spend the woman’s money.

He requested that his sister be hired as Shirley Jordan’s companion at a rate of $60 per hour.

He wanted the bank to release money for Ms. Jordan to buy property from another of his clients.

He asked Ms. Jordan to donate $10,000 to Catholic Charities, which at the time was run by his wife.

And he requested his young son be paid to mow the woman’s yard.

Those instances were just a few laid out by the prosecution Monday during the first day of Mr. McCullough’s nonjury trial before Senior Judge Lester G. Nauhaus in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

And:

Mr. McCullough began his work with Ms. Jordan in early 2006 and worked with Thomas Gray, a relationship manager with PNC Bank, to establish a trust for the then-90-year-old woman, whose financial worth was about $14 million. At the time, bank officials had discovered that Ms. Jordan was accumulating several large checks that were not being deposited into her bank account. They then learned that many of her bills, including utilities and taxes, were going unpaid, Mr. Gray testified.

“She thought she was fairly poor,” Mr. Gray said. “She just didn’t think she had a lot of money to live on.”

Mr. McCullough became a trustee for Ms. Jordan, and at one point requested that some of her money be used to buy land from another client of his and to use $500,000 to buy a certificate of deposit, Mr. Gray said.

Neither of those requests were approved.

You can read the original criminal complaint here, by the way.  Since six years passed between the filing of that complaint and the trial I can't be sure exactly the same charges were presented in court.  Here's the list of charges found on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas website.

Day Two  

The Trib:

Prosecutors contend McCullough improperly steered the donation to Catholic Charities because his wife, now a Commonwealth Court judge, was running the charity and in the midst of fundraising.

The gift to Catholic Charities was not the lone gift prosecutors say McCullough doled out with Jordan's money. Lisa Carey, district manager for Northwest Savings Bank, testified that McCullough asked that $10,000 checks be sent to the campaign funds of Republican political candidates Sue Caldwell, Jan Rea, Vince Gastgeb and Cheryl Allen, now a Superior Court judge. All of the then-candidates later returned the money.

Witnesses testified that McCullough shifted Jordan's money from PNC Bank to Northwest Bank in 2007.

The P-G:

John Goetz, the former president of the [board of directors for the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh], testified Tuesday against Charles P. McCullough, a former Allegheny County councilman accused of stealing from Shirley H. Jordan when he served as her power of attorney and co-trustee of her trust fund.

And:

Witnesses on Tuesday included employees at PNC Bank, which initially administered the Jordan trust fund in 2006, as well as an employee at Northwest Savings Bank, where the trust was moved in early 2007 at Mr. McCullough’s request.

It was Northwest that approved and issued four $10,000 checks to political candidates that brought Mr. McCullough’s actions out in the public.

Mr. Goetz testified that his concerns began after reading a newspaper story on April 13, 2007.

That would be this story, by the P-G's Dennis Roddy.  We'll get to Roddy a bit later, just you wait.

Back to the P-G:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report revealed that Ms. Jordan was upset by a number of political contributions that had been made in her name to Republican candidates — county council members Vince Gastgeb, Jan Rea and Susan Caldwell, and Cheryl Allen, then a candidate for Superior Court. In the story, she said the donations were orchestrated by Mr. McCullough.

“The donor was saying it was against her will to give such a donation,” Mr. Goetz testified.

The Trib :

Chuck McCullough's political adversaries, including the man who's now Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto's chief of staff, became suspicious in 2007 when he arranged for an elderly widow unknown in political circles to donate $40,000 to Republican politicians.

Kevin Acklin, Peduto's top aide, took the witness stand Wednesday on the third day of the criminal trial of McCullough, 60, of Upper St. Clair on charges he abused his power of attorney to steal nearly $200,000 from the $14.7 million estate of Shirley Jordan, who died in 2010 at age 93. Common Pleas Judge Lester Nauhaus is hearing the non-jury trial.

McCullough and Acklin, a Republican-turned-Democrat, were competing for an at-large county council seat in 2007. Acklin testified that some of his supporters, including then-Councilman Vince Gastgeb, withdrew their support once McCullough handed out the checks.

While in Upper St. Clair gathering signatures, Acklin visited Jordan's house, he said.

“The condition of her house looked like no one lived there. There was a window without drapes, a gutter was dislodged, there were water-logged phone books covered in snow outside and mail,” Acklin testified. “I called Vince Gastgeb and said, ‘Who is Shirley Jordan?' Gastgeb said Jordan was a client of McCullough's and he had served as her estate (lawyer).”

Acklin said that raised a red flag.

The P-G:

The condition of the house raised Mr. Acklin’s suspicions, and he began an investigation to see who Ms. Jordan was. He learned that she was represented by Mr. McCullough, and that she was living in a nursing facility. Mr. Acklin also went to the county’s department of court records to check her files.

A day or two later, Mr. Acklin, now chief of staff to Mayor Bill Peduto, received a call from Mr. McCullough.

“ ‘What were you doing snooping around court records, the Recorder of Deeds?’ ” Mr. Acklin said the former county councilman asked him.

“I said, ‘You know exactly what I was doing,’ ” Mr. Acklin recounted during the non-jury trial. “He seemed agitated.” Then, Mr. Acklin testified, Mr. McCullough said, “ ‘You might want to ask around town who you’re [messing] with.’ ”

Uh-oh.

Day Three and Four

The Trib:

Elderly widow Shirley Jordan “gasped” and seemed startled when told that her attorney had doled out a $10,000 political donation from her trust fund, a former reporter testified Thursday.

Former Post-Gazette reporter Dennis Roddy testified Thursday about his 2007 interview with Jordan during the fourth day of the trial of former Allegheny County Councilman Chuck McCullough. Prosecutors accused McCullough, 60, of Upper St. Clair, in 2009 of bilking $200,000 from the $14.7 million trust of Jordan, who died in 2010 at the age of 93.

And then:

Common Pleas Judge Lester Nauhaus halted the trial Thursday in the middle of Roddy's testimony, after defense attorney Jon Pushinsky objected on hearsay grounds. Pushinsky contends the testimony should not be considered because it's hearsay and he can't cross-examine Jordan.

Nauhaus ordered Pushinsky and Assistant District Attorney John Fitzgerald to write legal briefs on the matter.

The Trib:

Nauhaus overruled defense objections about Roddy's testimony and said he would consider parts of it, including that Jordan told Roddy that McCullough was a “cheap politician.”

Roddy continued his testimony from Thursday and said he specifically asked Jordan if perhaps she forgot about the donations, including a $10,000 donation to then-Superior Court candidate Cheryl Allen.

“She said, ‘I would never give $10,000 to politics,' ” Roddy testified.

Then there was this:

A few days after Roddy interviewed Jordan, McCullough called Upper St. Clair police to complain about a reporter, who he said did not identify himself and was harassing and badgering his client.

Roddy said he signed into the facility and identified himself as a reporter to Jordan. No charges were filed.

That last part's one of the charges filed against McCullough, by the way.  In the original complaint we read:

The actor knowingly gave false information, namely on April 18, 2007 DEFENDANT KNOWINGLY AND FALSELY REPORTED TO UPPER ST. CLAIR POLICE DEPARTMENT THAT DENNIS RODD HARASSED SHIRLEY H. JORDAN WHEN NO SUCH INCIDENT OF HARASSMENT BY DENNIS RODDY HAD OCCURRED to a law enforcement office with intent to implicate another, in violation of 18Pa C.S. 4906(a) [Capitalization in original]

  Then finally, there's this from the P-G:

Two days after an article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2007 outlining an elderly widow’s denunciation of tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions made in her name, the man who is accused of facilitating the donations tried to convince her otherwise.

The Trib:

“He said there was some information in the newspaper that was not true and that he was going to read it to her,” testified Alice Greenway, a care worker who took care of Jordan at an assisted living home. “He asked her to sign something to say, ‘This is what's true and the newspaper account was not.' She refused.”

McCullough was telling Jordan as they went through the newspaper story, “I didn't do that. I wouldn't do that,” Greenway testified.

McCullough then wrote up a second document for Greenway to sign, saying she saw Jordan agree with McCullough.

“I wouldn't do it,” Greenway testified.

That's what's been reported in the local newspapers, so far.

Reminder: The trial still going on and Charles P. McCullough still has the presumption of innocence as guaranteed by law.  He's still innocent until proven guilty and it's still the prosecution's responsibility to prove its case.

Chuck McCullough's Going To Trial

Both the P-G and the Trib have the details.

We've been been following this for some time now. I've met a few of the players of this particular drama and for the sake of full disclosure let me say that one of my old jobs was at a law firm that also employed McCullough at the same time - we didn't have that much interaction and none of it has anything to do with this story.

What makes this particularly newsworthy is that despite the charges, the arrest and now the trial, attorney Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough is as of this writing STILL on Allegheny County Council.

Did you know he's on the Government Reform committee?

From the County website:

Chuck McCullough was elected to one of the County Council At Large seats in the November, 2007 election, and brings 25 years of government expertise to Council. Chuck was the Homestead Borough Solicitor from 1984-1990 and the Allegheny County Solicitor from 2002-2004. He has been the Township Attorney for the Township of Upper St. Clair since 1998 and also serves as Special Counsel to the Upper St. Clair School District and to South Park Township. Additionally, he has served in different capacities as legal counsel in various state and local government bond issues.

Chuck has developed effective, pragmatic and non-partisan resolutions to many of our regions’ issues. His reputation for success in this regard resulted in his selection by Governor Rendell to be a member of Commonwealth’s negotiating team with U.S. Airways and his selection by his peers, the solicitors for the municipalities in the Alcosan collection system, to be one of the lead attorneys in negotiations with EPA, DEP and the County Health Department for a county-wide administrative consent order to study and assess our regions’ sewerage systems. The resulting consent order is estimated to have saved the municipalities millions of dollars in fines and litigation expense and over a billion dollars in compliance with environmental regulations. Chuck was also selected by County Council in 2005 to be a member of the County’s Government Study Review Commission, which conducted a comprehensive review of the functions and effectiveness of County governmen

Good for him. Now look what's happened. From the P-G:

After 30 witnesses, reams of paperwork and continuances that made the preliminary hearing -- typically a single-day affair -- stretch over nearly two months, Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. McCullough was ordered to stand trial yesterday on all 24 counts against him.

The P-G has the original police criminal complaint. Here are the charges listed on the complaint:

• One count of making unsworn falsification to authorities. McCullough is charged with failing to disclose on a state ethics commission financial statement income from the Jordan trust.
  
• Two counts of making false reports to law enforcement. McCullough is charged with falsely reporting to Upper St. Clair police that P-G reporter Dennis Roddy had harassed Jordan when no harassment occurred
• Nine counts of misapplication of entrusted property. McCullough is charged with making a number of checks out of Jordan's trust without her knowledge.
• Seven counts of theft by taking. More checks from Jordan's trust without her approval.
• Two counts of theft by deception. McCullough is charged with getting paid for stuff he didn't do.
• One count of criminal conspiracy. This has to do with the charges McCullough's sister is facing, as far as I can tell.
  
• One count of tampering with public records. This has to do with his failure to report the Jordan income.
• One count of failing to properly report statement of financial interests.

And that's 24.

From the P-G:

Mr. McCullough, 54, is charged with using his control of Shirley H. Jordan's assets to reward himself, friends, political allies and family members, including his sister Kathleen McCullough, who also was ordered to stand trial on three theft charges yesterday. Ms. McCullough, in addition to receiving money from Mrs. Jordan through her brother, is charged with embezzling more than $1 million from an engineering firm where she worked as an accountant.

We wrote about the embezzling here. Messy biz, that.

In all fairness, we should say that from the Trib we learn that:

McCullough's actions were approved by an Orphans' Court judge, [McCullough's lead attorney Thomas] Farrell argued. Allegations he misused Jordan's money do not amount to criminal charges, and would be more appropriate for a lawyers' disciplinary review board, Farrell added.

Which is all well and good, but I don't think it doesn't address the allegations of making false reports to the police, does it?

One interesting thing about both articles is that both contain the same quotation from Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus:

They had a cash cow here, and Mr. McCullough was going to milk it for all it's worth.

Let's just leave it with that.

A Chuck McCullough Update (It's About EFFING Time!!)

Yesterday, as I happily toiled at home (at my lockdown job), I received an email from an astute reader. The subject line to this email read simply:

Chuck McCullough

(Long time readers of this blog will know instantly to whom that refers.)

Intrigued, I opened the email and the message read in its entirety:

Tee-hee.

Whah?  What happened? Hey Davey, what's the story?

There's an update to Chuck McCullough's story!  Take a look at this from Mick Sintelli of the P-G:

The long and winding legal road of former Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough ended Thursday when the state Supreme Court denied his appeal, affirming his theft conviction from more than five years ago.

Really, Mick? "The long and winding...road"? A Beatles reference in your first half dozen words? You Can't Do That. Remember Orwell's first rule in writing well:

Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

It's just Something had to be pointed out, Mick, but couldn't you just Let It Be?  I've Got A Feeling that It Won't Be Long for Chuck McCullough to get a Ticket To Ride to some minimum security prison somewhere but In My Life, making light of someone's Misery is a bad idea.

I Want To Tell You that I'm So Tired of seeing cheap Beatles literary references Here, There and Everywhere. It's All Too Much - Help!

In The End, you did what you did and you're gonna Carry That Weight (for a long time), Because it's just Nowhere, Man. 

Back to Chuck. Mick Not-Jagger of the P-G continues:

The denial from the state’s highest court means McCullough, 65, probably will have to serve the 2-1/2 to 5 year prison sentence that has been on hold for years while the case made its way through the appeal process.

"On hold for years" to say the least.

Let's look at some dates:

• February 9, 2009 - Chuck arrested. That's 12 years and 4 days ago. In other words, this was only 20 days after Barrack Obama's first inauguration. The rest of his two terms as well as all of Trump's hellscape time in the Oval happened between then and now.
  
• April 13, 2015 - Chuck's trial begins. That's 5 years, 10 months ago and 6 years, 2 months and 4 days after his arrest.
  
• July 31, 2015 - Chuck found guilty. That's 5 years, 6 months and 13 days ago and 6 years 5 months and 6 days after his arrest.
• December 15, 2015 - Chuck sentenced. That's 5 years, 1 month and 29 days ago and 6 years, 10 months, and 6 days after his arrest.

Considering Chuck's looking at 2 1/2 to 5 years away, the above time spans seem more or less absurd. Here's the thing: had he started doing his time when he was sentenced (and is there anyone who believes he would have had to do the full 5 years?), he'd be out by now, doing whatever it is disgraced former GOP politicians do once they've been released from prison. Fox News? OAN? Newsmax? 

One final Beatle reference. Chuck McCullough is 65. If only he were 64.

More On Chuck McCullough (With A Few Updates)

A New Year, a new set of filings from our good friend Chuck:

Former Allegheny County councilman Chuck McCullough, sentenced to 2-1/​2 to five years in prison, said in motions filed Monday that his punishment is “manifestly excessive” and “vindictive.”

In a 30-page post-sentence motion, defense attorney Adam Cogan raised several issues, including that the evidence against his client was insufficient; that McCullough had no conscious intention to steal from his victim, as required to prove theft; that he was denied due process; and that there was an abuse of the justice system in how his request to remove the judge on the case was handled.

In addition, Mr. Cogan asks that his client be permitted to remain free on bond pending the outcome of his appeal. Right now, McCullough is slated to appear in court Jan. 22 and presumably will be taken into custody that day. Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman, who sentenced McCullough on Dec. 17, permitted him to remain free until then.

Ok, so that's from the P-G late last year but it's still being played out this year.

From The Trib:

McCullough's post-trial motions seek to vacate the sentence and obtain a new trial based on his attorneys' earlier allegations against trial judge Lester Nauhaus, including that he had improper communications with McCullough's former lawyer to urge him to waive a jury trial. Cogan said the court mishandled an evidentiary hearing over those allegations, in part by not making Nauhaus testify.

Nauhaus refused to recuse himself from the sentencing, but, saying he was ill, he had the Dec. 17 sentencing hearing transferred to Judge David Cashman. Since Nauhaus was still in the courthouse — even in Cashman's chambers — that morning, he was free to influence the sentence, and its transfer to Cashman couldn't wipe away the questions McCullough had been trying to raise about Nauhaus' recusal, Cogan wrote.

The court will have until Jan. 22 to consider the post-conviction motions and any response prosecutors file. McCullough remains free on bond until then; if none of his motions or appeals are granted, he will have to report to prison.

But here's the interesting part of this story, also from The Trib:

Sentenced to prison for stealing money from an elderly client's estate, Chuck McCullough still holds his law license.

The Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board will decide how and when the state Supreme Court should punish the former Allegheny County councilman, whose penalties could range from censure to disbarment.

And it could be a rough road to return to practicing law if McCullough, of Upper St. Clair, loses his license and wants it reinstated upon completion of his 2 1⁄2- to 5-year prison term, experts said.

I realize that attorneys are, by nature, obsessed with precedent and procedure and so I expect that there has to be a meeting of a disciplinary board somewhere with oaths to be taken and paper work to be filled out and objections to be made but this seems to be a done deal.  If an attorney is convicted of stealing from a client, shouldn't it be, I dunno, automatic that that attorney looses his or her law license as punishment?

If only to maintain the integrity of the system.

But what do I know?  I only know it took longer to get Chuck into a courtroom than it took Nixon to go from election-winner in '68 to resignation-loser in '74.

Happy Monday

ANOTHER UPDATE: Oops, I forgot today was the day. KDKA is reporting that there was a preliminary hearing this morning on some more charges Chuck faces.  On top of everything else, Chuck will now stand trial for perjury.

AND YET ANOTHER ONE:  The P-G has a summary of all Chuck's new charges and how they came about.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due. Again.

Don't normally agree with the Trib's Eric Heyl, but he's 100%, absolutely, totally and without any sort of snarky bloggery sarcasm, completely correct with this column.

Here, I'll let Eric frame the argument:

There's due process, then there's overdue process.

Chuck McCullough's criminal case long ago turned into a protracted process whose resolution is ridiculously overdue.

And:

McCullough, 58, an Upper St. Clair attorney, is accused of bilking an elderly client, the late Shirley Jordan, out of more than $200,000. He was arrested in February 2009. That was 56 months ago.[Emphasis added.]

If I may point out something, if you google "Chuck McCullough arrested" you will get, on top of google's search list, this blog post - the date was February 9, 2009.

That was only 20 days after the President Obama's first inauguration.  Think of that for a second.  The Kenyan Socialist President's time in the White House exceeds McCullough's post-arrest-pre-trial time by a skosh under three weeks.  Think of all that's happened in that administration in those 56 weeks.

• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (February 17, 2009)
• Cash for Clunkers (August 6, 2009)
• The Nobel Peace Prize (October 9, 2009)
• The Affordable Health Care Act (March 23, 2010)
• Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act (December 22, 2010)

And so on.

What movies were were released after Chuck McCullough was arrested?

• Avatar (Premiered December, 2009)
• Both Star Trek films (April, 2009 and April, 2013)

So you remember seeing Avatar in the theatre?  However long ago you think that was, Chuck McCullough was arrested before that happened.

And so on.

Eric ends with:

If he hasn't succumbed to old age by the time the trial begins, McCullough might be sorely inconvenienced attempting to attend the proceedings. It wouldn't be the relatively quick commute from his home in Alpha Centauri that would prove irksome.

I'm glad Eric brought this up.  Did you know that Alpha Cenari is 4.37 light years away?  That's about 53 months.

So if they had sensitive enough equipment and if that sensitive enough equipment is pointed our way and if they could understand Pittsburghese, the residents on whatever planets that may be circling around Alpha Centauri are just hearing the news about Chuck McCullough's arrest.

Think about that.

It's An Anniversary, Of Sorts, For Chuck McCullough

In case you missed it (and with current the Trump-shitstorm dissolving the republic, it would be easier-than-easy to do so) today is the 8th anniversary of this event:

Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough was arrested and arraigned today on nearly two dozen counts following an investigation last year of his handling of an elderly widow's trust funds.

A county grand jury today handed up a 52-page presentment that alleges Mr. McCullough, an attorney, and his sister, Kathleen A. McCullough, bilked money from the $14.5 million trust fund of an Upper St. Clair widow, Shirley H. Jordan, 90.

The investigation began after an article appeared in the Post-Gazette in April 2007 in which Mrs. Jordan denied that she donated $10,000 to each of four political candidates the year before, according to an affidavit that accompanied the arrests of Mr. McCullough and his sister.

Here's the P-G article (written by Dennis Roddy) from  April 12 2007, and the original complaint, in case you're interested in reading them.

That means that It's been exactly 8 years to the day, since he was arrested.  It's now officially longer than any non-FDR presidency.  I'll put it another way, the time between Chuck McCullough's arrest and the time he starts the jail sentence for which he was found guilty will be longer than the time Barack Obama (or George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan) were President of the United States.  Something to ponder.

In the intervening 2,922 days these events have occurred:

• His trial began on April 13, 2015.  That's only 2,245 days since he was arrested.  By the way the trial began 8 years and one day since Roddy's piece in the P-G.
• He was found guilty on July 31, 2015.  That's only 2,353 days since he was arrested and only 570 days ago.
• He was sentenced to 2 1⁄2 to five years on December 17, 2015.  That's only 2,493 days since he was arrested and only 431 days ago.

And he's still out on bond.  What happened was this:

Between his conviction and his sentencing, McCullough sought to have the theft case's presiding judge, Lester Nauhaus, recuse himself because McCullough said the judge improperly passed a message to McCullough's attorney urging him to waive his right to a jury trial.

Prosecutors said that and other statements McCullough made in his motion for recusal contradicted his statement under oath that no one threatened or coerced him to waive a jury in favor of a bench trial.

Basically, after the non-jury trial was done, he said he took a judge-only trial because he feared repercussions from judge Nauhaus if he didn't. On the other hand, he said under oath that no one threatened or coerced him into taking the judge-only trial.  And so (still from The Trib):

The District Attorney's Office charged McCullough in November with two counts each of perjury, false swearing and obstruction of justice, along with one count of unsworn falsification.

So now there's a perjury case while McCullough appeals his conviction that came after his arrest 8 years ago.  The perjury case is set to start 5 days after the end of his Superior Court appeal.

The only problem is found in the Trib's last sentence:

The Superior Court has not set a date for arguments in McCullough's appeal.

That was May 19, 2016 (that's only 276 days ago) and nothing's been reported since - nor has Chuck started his 2 1⁄2 to five year sentence.

So what do you say to someone for their 8 year anniversary of an an arrest that lead to a conviction and sentencing for a prison term that's still hasn't begun?

Considering what Chuck was found guilty of, I'd go with this: Happy Anniversary Chuck, may you get an attorney just like you to be your Power-Of-Attorney when you get old.

Chuck McCullough UPDATE

For those of you who may not have been following the trial of former Allegheny County Council Member Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough, the trial resumed today.

And this is happened, according to the Trib's Adam Brandolph:

An Allegheny County judge acquitted former Councilman Chuck McCullough of three charges related to the theft of money from an elderly widow's estate Wednesday as the prosecution rested its case and the defense prepared to call its first witnesses.

Common Pleas Judge Lester G. Nauhaus granted a motion from the defense to acquit McCullough of misapplication of entrusted money, theft and conspiracy. Nauhaus acquitted McCullough's sister, Kathleen McCullough, 52, of Collier, of both counts she faced.

I'm not sure, but I think that he was facing about 2 dozen charges.  And take a pair away from that two dozen and Chuck's still looking at 21 (or so) charges.  But as with all things legal, the numbers might be off.  It's possible that some other charges have been dropped in the intervening years. 

I'll wait for verification on exactly what charges are left from one or another of the local news outlets.

Adam did include this in his reporting:

Nauhuas' acquittal of some charges against McCullough was not all that surprising. In April after a week of testimony, Nauhaus told prosecutors that he had not seen evidence that McCullough stole money from Jordan's estate and expressed doubts about whether prosecutors had met their burden of proof.

“So far, all I've seen evidence of is malpractice. That's not fraud,” Nauhaus said. “He very well may be a crummy lawyer, but that doesn't make him a criminal.”

So I guess what he's saying is that Chuck McCullough may not be a criminal but there's lotsa evidence showing he's a crummy lawyer.

At the very least, for something like that to come from a sitting judge, that can't be good.  If only in the general "what about my reputation" sort of way.

The trial continues.

More On Charles P. (Chuck) Mccullough (UPDATED)

An astute reader emailed me this link this morning:

Former Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough has lost his last chance to avoid complying with a prison sentence for theft and is set to appear Tuesday before a county judge.

The state Supreme Court on Monday denied his application for extraordinary relief and motion to stay the sentence.

McCullough is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. Tuesday before Judge David Cashman for a hearing to comply with a 2½- to five-year sentence.

This is set to happen today. 

Ever a McCullough-skeptic, I will believe it when I see it. He's weaseled out of this before. Perhaps Former Allegheny County Council member Charles P. (Chuck) McCullough has one more trick up his sleeve.

In any event, The Trib has more info on our good friend Chuck:

McCullough, now representing himself, was found guilty in a bench trial of five counts of theft and five counts of misapplication of funds, stemming from work he did as a power of attorney for an elderly Upper St. Clair woman.

He initially was charged in 2009. It took six years before the case went to trial, and it has been more than five years that he has tried to get out of the prison sentence imposed on him in December 2015.

In February, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to accept his appeal, clearing the way for him to begin serving his sentence. [Emphasis added.]

I guess the "Now representing himself" part means he's run out of attorneys. I think he's now on the other side of a half-dozen. Rudy Giuliani was busy? 

The Trib also has something else that can't be found at the P-G (and kudos for The Trib for the deeper coverage) - more on Chuck's application for extraordinary relief:

However, in his emergency motions, McCullough, 66, outlined a number of reasons why he should not be required to go to state prison.

Among them, he listed medical conditions — including a shoulder with torn tendons that requires surgery — and a fear of contracting covid-19 in the prison system.

Including, what amounts to a note from his doctor outlining why he shouldn't go to prison.

Then there's this:

“Defendant would be defenseless in prison which is for the most part populated by much younger men, some being no more than one-third of defendant’s age and who will outweigh defendant by more than 100 pounds,” he wrote. “He would be at great risk of being seriously injured or killed by other inmates if incarcerated.”

Instead, McCullough suggests that he could have surgery as his doctor recommends and avoid covid by being allowed to serve his sentence on house arrest.

“The commonwealth is not prejudiced at all by the presentation of this motion as it will be spared the expense of having to house, feed, treat and care for defendant,” McCullough wrote. “The current sentence of 2½ to 5 years of incarceration may well be tantamount to a death sentence for defendant due to his age, health issues, susceptibility to covid-19 and his vulnerability to deadly assault by other inmates.”

See? Everyone would have won had Chuck just gotten house arrest!

What did Sammy sing in 1976?

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. (Don't do it.)

Let's see how this turns out today.

I wonder how this will effect Patricia McCullough, a judge on the Commonwealth Court and Chuck's wife, and her campaign for Supreme Court.

Did you know she was at Wendy Bell's rally recently? And this happened:

Patricia McCollugh , running for the state Supreme Court. “All law is based on natural law. And all law is based on divine law.” pic.twitter.com/0vkTIC97d3

— Katie Blackley (@kate_blackley) March 20, 2021

Which divine law did Chuck break when he misappropriated that $40,000, your honor?

UPDATE: This morning the Allegheny County DA tweeted:

Charles McCullough reported as ordered to the courtroom of Judge Cashman this morning and was immediately remanded to the custody of the Allegheny County Sheriff to begin serving a sentence of 30 to 60 months in state prison for his theft conviction.

— AlleghenyCountyDA (@AlleghenyCoDA) April 6, 2021

More On McCullough Corruption (The Kathleen Edition)

I stumbled across this in the P-G yesterday while enjoying yet another good fine lunchtime meal downtown.

The news isn't good:

An Allegheny County jury found a Collier woman guilty Tuesday of stealing more than $1.3 million from two separate employers over a period of several years.

Kathleen A. McCullough, 47, was charged with taking $1.2 million from Mackin Engineering, where she worked as the company's controller, and later from the Radiance Surgery Center in Upper St. Clair, where she worked as office manager.

The jury in the case before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos deliberated less than three hours before returning the verdict: guilty on all counts. Ms. McCullough will be sentenced on Aug. 27. She could face a sentence of up to three to six years in prison.

You remember Kathleen McCullough, right? You will in a minute.

Here's a clue:

Ms. McCullough is charged in a separate case, along with her brother, attorney and Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough, with defrauding an elderly Upper St. Clair widow. Mr. McCullough is charged with taking nearly $200,000 from her while acting as her attorney.

Ms. McCullough is accused of being paid to be a companion to the woman though she had no professional experience or licenses.

That case is scheduled to go to trial in October.

While the two are in charged in that separate case, the P-G reported awhile ago that Chuck McCullough was involved in this case as well:

Italo V. Mackin, president and CEO of Mackin Engineering, testified that when Ms. McCullough handled the finances and accounting for the company, she wrote more than $1 million worth of checks to herself, primarily to pay bills for her American Express card that were as high as $94,000 for a month. Mr. Mackin said he did not authorize the payments.

Mr. Mackin said he fired Ms. McCullough on a Friday in July 2006 once he learned she had been making unauthorized payments to herself. The following Monday, he said, Charles McCullough and an attorney were in his office. They met privately with Mackin vice president Jerome Schwertz.

In the meeting, Mr. Schwertz testified, Mr. McCullough maintained that the money was not stolen and accused Mr. Schwertz and Ms. McCullough of having an affair, saying Mr. Schwertz had authorized the payments. Mr. Schwertz testified that he did have an affair with Ms. McCullough for several years, but he denied it at the time.

A paragraph or so later:

Then the parties drew up a confidentiality agreement that neither side would press criminal charges or sue. Mr. Mackin said he did so to protect his family and prevent the affair from becoming public. Mr. Schwertz is married to Mr. Mackin's daughter.

From his website:

Council Member Chuck McCullough has served as an At-Large representative for the citizens of Allegheny County since January 2008. He views his role as doing whatever he can to try to help the residents of Allegheny County who are in need and is committed to doing so.

Isn't it nice to see an Allegheny County Councilman working so hard on behalf of a constituent?

Chuck McCullough STILL Hasn't Faced Trial. STILL

Yesterday, an astute reader emailed in a reminder about a certain former County Council member who was arrested more than 5 years ago.

At this point I have no idea what the charges are now and listing what they were might be unfair, if some of them were dismissed.

The last time I wrote about this, it was warm and July and this was to be found in the Tribune-Review:

Authorities charged McCullough, 59, of Upper St. Clair in June 2009 with bilking $200,000 from the $14.7 million estate of widow Shirley Jordan, who died in 2010 at 93. Prosecutors accused him of trying to further his political career while acting as trustee of her estate in 2006 and 2007.

But as I wrote in July of 2009, there were other charges as well including this one:

Two counts of making false reports to law enforcement. McCullough is charged with falsely reporting to Upper St. Clair police that P-G reporter Dennis Roddy had harassed Jordan when no harassment occurred

But at this point, more than 5 years later, who knows what's still on the list of charges?

But let's take another look at the time frame here.  He was arrested on February 19, 2009.  Only about 20 days after the first inauguration of Barack Obama.  The first inauguration of Barack Obama.

So what else has happned between now and McCullough's arrest?
According to the US Census, the estimated population of the United States of America on Feburary 19, 2009 is:

305,846,934

And the estimated population of the United States today (November 14, 2014) is:

319,261,675

That means that there are about 13.4 million more citizens of the US since the day Chuck was arrested.

According to Google, The day Chuck McCullough was arrested, The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at:

7,465.95

It closed yesterday at:

17,652.79

That's more than 200% growth, right?

Let's see what else has happened since Chuck McCullough was arrested:

• April 17, 1013, Dr. Autumn Klein collapsed and later died of cyanide poisoning.
• July 15, 2013, Dr Klein's husband, Robert Ferrante is arrested and charged with her murder
• October 23, 1014, The trial begins
• November 7, 1014, The jury finds him guilty of murder in the first degree.

Take a look at what I wrote last April:

• Jerry Sandusky was arrested in November 2011 and he was found guilty the following July.
• Richard Poplawski killed three police officers in April 2009 and he was found guilty in June 2011 
• Jane Orie was indicted in April 2010 and was convicted March 2012

Of course we can add that Jane Orie's already been released.

Given it's been 2,094 days (or 5 years, 8 months and 26 days) since he was arrested, I have to ask:

WHEN WILL CHUCK MCCULLOUGH'S TRIAL BEGIN?

Roddy Relocates

From the City Paper:

Dennis Roddy, a fixture of Pittsburgh journalism for nearly four decades, is leaving the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and taking a job in the fledgling Corbett Administration.

"It was time for me, at age 57, to find out if I possess any transferable skills," says Roddy.

Roddy's job will be in communications. And while he says his exact duties have yet to be defined, he won't be a spokesman: "Let's face it -- no one would believe anything a reporter has to say."

Well, let's take a look at what this reporter HAS said.

It was Roddy who wrote about the Richard Mellon Scaife divorce:

The divorce case titled Scaife v. Scaife has wound its way through the courts under a blanket of secrecy as both sides struggle over a storied Pittsburgh fortune surpassing $1.4 billion and a temporary monthly alimony payment bigger than the life savings of most people.

Margaret Ritchie Battle Scaife, 60, and her husband, Mellon banking and oil heir Richard Mellon Scaife, 75, have been unable to agree on support payments, whether one of his newspapers is a hobby or a business investment, and even the date of their separation. She says they split in December 2005, after she caught him in an affair. He says they separated 10 months earlier.

Details of the dispute have remained out of the public eye for more than a year. Lawyers for Mr. Scaife, a reclusive financier of the political right who underwrote much of the campaign against the Clinton administration in the 1990s, asked Allegheny County Judge Alan Hertzberg to seal the record of his divorce. The judge complied.

Yea, I led with Scaife. Deal with it. By the way, the temporary alimony payments Roddy mentioned? $725,000 per month.

And it was Dennis Roddy who wrote so lovingly about everyone's favorite County Council man Chuck McCullough:

The single largest donor to Allegheny County candidates this year is a 90-year-old Upper St. Clair widow who hasn't voted for seven years and says she never agreed to give $10,000 each to four Republican candidates, including one for Superior Court and three for Allegheny County Council.

Shirley H. Jordan, whose late husband, attorney Fred Jordan, pioneered workers' compensation law and invested widely, is on record with contributions of $10,000 each to Cheryl Allen, who is seeking the GOP nomination for Superior Court, and County Council candidates Vince Gastgeb, Jan Rea and Susan Caldwell. The checks were drawn from the Shirley Jordan Trust, housed at Northwest Savings Bank, and signed by a bank trustee.

And:

She blamed the donation on her attorney, Charles McCullough, himself a candidate for County Council. Mr. McCullough took control of Mrs. Jordan's affairs following a court dispute that began after she was taken in 2005 to St. Clair Hospital, where a doctor diagnosed her with moderate dementia. A Common Pleas Court judge later declared her incapacitated.

McCullough's still on County Council - even after being indicted. And although his trial is scheduled to begin in May, he's showing he's got some humongous cojones. From Jim O'Toole at the P-G:

The next few days could clarify the murky Republican picture on the race to succeed Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.

So far, no one has declared for the GOP nomination, but three potential candidates -- each of them surprising in different ways -- are reported to be considering the race.

Perhaps most startling is the possibility that county Councilman Chuck McCullough could flout his criminal court indictment by running for the GOP nomination for the county's top job.

It's amazing that the Allegheny County GOP can include BOTH Mark DeSantis (who's a good guy) and Chuck McCullough (who, if all this reporting is to be believed, just isn't).

Roddy even became part of the McCullough story. From June of '09, we was reported (quoting the criminal indictment) that McCullough was being charged with:

Two counts of making false reports to law enforcement. McCullough is charged with falsely reporting to Upper St. Clair police that P-G reporter Dennis Roddy had harassed Jordan when no harassment occurred.

Did I say that Chuck's still on County Council?

And let's not forget Dennis being on the receiving end of Mayor Luke's more memorable examples of public safety largess. At G20 time, Dennis was among those gassed by the Luke's police in Oakland.

Bon Voyage, my friend. Knock 'em dead in Harrisburg.

Chuck McCullough In The News!

I know, I know. The world is burning, people are dying, and the monster in the Oval Office is pausing a deal to purchase much needed ventilators because of (now wait for it) cost. Oh, and he also told the Governor of NY, who's begging for 30,000 much needed ventilators, "I don't think you need that many."

But I have to keep tabs on this story.

From the P-G:

The state Superior Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of former Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough, whose case has a long and tortured history.

McCullough, 65, was found guilty of five counts of theft and five counts of misapplication of entrusted funds following a non-jury trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Lester G. Nauhaus in 2015. He was accused of writing more than $40,000 in political contributions from the accounts of Shirley Jordan, an elderly widow he represented, without her permission.

McCullough was initially arrested in February 2009 and it took more than six years to get the case to trial. In November 2015, McCullough was sentenced to serve 2½ to five years in prison, but he still has not begun serving that punishment, as the sentence has been on hold pending appeal.

A few important dates:

• February 19, 2009 - McCullough arrested 
• July 31, 2015 - McCullough found guilty
• December 17, 2015 - McCullough sentenced  

Today is March 27, 2020. It means, then, that it's been:

• 11 years, 1 month and 8 days since he was arrested 
• 4 years, 7 months and 27 days since he was found guilty
• 4 years, 3 months and 10 days since he was sentenced

And so this is where we are. I would like to point out something from the article:

McCullough said he had wanted to have a jury hear his case, but that he feared repercussions from Judge Nauhaus if he went against his wishes.

So look at some of the duration since:

• Chuck's sentencing - longer than US involvement in World War II (3 years, 8 months, 26 days).
• Chuck was found guilty - longer than the whole of World War I (4 years, 3 months, 14 days)
• Chuck's arrest - longer than the entire run of Friends (9 years, 7 months, 14 days)

When his case has finally reached the end of appeals, I'm thinking that this will still be an issue for our good buddy Chuck. This is why:

Prosecutors said that and other statements McCullough made in his motion for recusal contradicted his statement under oath that no one threatened or coerced him to waive a jury in favor of a bench trial.

Here's the thing in simpler language. At the beginning of the trial McCullough said under oath that no one coerced him to accept a "judge only" trial. (Full disclosure: I was there, a few rows of courtroom chairs away.)  So by stating under oath that he feared repercussions from Judge Nauhaus, Chuck (in my non-attorney mind, at least) constructed two contradictory sworn statements. Logically, one has to be a lie.

And lying under oath is perjury.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled apocalypse.

Chuck McCullough Update (Hint: Things Just Got Worse)

From my last blog post, we learned that former Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough was attempting to have Judge Lester G. Nauhaus removed from the sentencing part of the trial.  Chuck alleged that:

...that Judge Nauhaus had improper communications with Mr. McCullough’s previous defense lawyer, Jon Pushinsky, in which the judge relayed through a mutual friend that Mr. Pushinsky should “go nonjury” for the trial.

Mr. McCullough claimed in his petition that he wanted a jury trial but feared repercussions by Judge Nauhaus.

That part didn't go so well for our Chuck:

President Judge Jeffrey A. Manning denied McCullough's petition to recuse Judge Lester G. Nauhaus from his sentencing when one witness after another cited rules of evidence, attorney-client privilege or protected sources to avoid testifying at an evidentiary hearing.

“There's absolutely nothing on the record at all to indicate Judge Nauhaus was in any way not impartial ... aside from what was in your petition,” Manning said. “Without evidence, those claims are now scurrilous.”

But that's not really the bad part.

This is:

The day after former Allegheny County Councilman Chuck McCullough lost his bid to have the judge on his case removed, he is to face new criminal charges of perjury and obstruction.

Mr. McCullough is to turn himself in today at Pittsburgh Municipal Court. He received notice of the new charges Thursday; they apparently stem from his waiver earlier this year of his right to a jury trial both in writing and during an oral colloquy before Common Pleas Senior Judge Lester G. Nauhaus.

In those statements, Mr. McCullough said he waived his right to a jury trial voluntarily and free from any threat, but that waiver contradicts his recent claim that he made the nonjury decision under duress.

I would have thought someone with a JD would have known that was coming.

But I'm not a lawyer so what the heck do I know??

Yes, It's Happenning!! (More On Chuck McCullough's Trial)

The trial of Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough, that is.  Needless to say, it's only taken 2,245 days since he was arrested.

This morning, I made sure I was there to witness it - if only to make reassure myself in the days, weeks, months and years ahead it really happened.

If you're looking for details on the case, both major newspapers already have stuff posted:

Paula Reed Ward of the P-G:

Six years after criminal charges were filed against former Allegheny County councilman Charles P. McCullough, his trial began this morning in Common Pleas Court.

Mr. McCullough, an attorney from Upper St. Clair, faces nearly two dozen counts, including theft, misapplication of funds, making false statements and conspiracy in a nonjury trial before Senior Judge Lester G. Nauhaus.

Yea, and it took Judge Nauhaus nearly 20 minutes to read them all to McCullough during the arraignment.

Bobby Kerlik of the Trib:

The long-awaited trial of former Allegheny County Councilman Chuck McCullough started Monday, nearly six years after prosecutors filed charges against him.

Prosecutors accused McCullough, 60, of Upper St. Clair, of abusing his power of attorney to steal nearly $200,000 from the $14.7 million estate of Shirley Jordan, an elderly woman who died in 2010 at age 93. McCullough, a Republican who served as county solicitor for a year before he was a county councilman from 2007 to 2011, is charged with two dozen counts, including nine counts of felony theft.

Look for TV coverage by Alan Jennings of WPXI and Harold Hayes of KDKA as well.  They were sitting about 6 feet away from me this morning.

 At last, I can finally stop the "how many days HAS it been since Chuck was arrested?" blog posts!

2,095 Days (And Counting): A Chuck McCullough Follow-Up (UPDATED)

I was fascinated by the fact that yesterday marked the 2,094th day since Chuck McCullough was arrested and yet still not faced trial.

I was wondering how that span of time (now it's up to 2,095) compares to some other famous time spans.  For example:

• WWII in the Pacific - December 7, 1941 (Attack on Pearl Harbor) to August 15, 1945 (VJ Day): 1,347 days
• WWII in Europe - September 1, 1939 (Germany invades Poland) to May 7, 1945 (Germany Surrenders) 2,075 days
• The Beatles - February 9, 1964 (Beatles first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show) to January 30, 1969 (their last public performance on the rooftop of Apple Studios): 1,817 days
• Nixon Presidency - January 20, 1969 (Nixon's First Inauguration) to August 9, 1974 (Nixon's resignation): 2,027 days
• Breaking Bad - January 20, 2008 (First episode) to September 29, 2013 (Last episode): 2,074 days
• Brady Bunch - September 26, 1969 (First episode) to March 8, 1974 (Last episode): 1,624 days

It's taking longer to get Chuck McCullough to trial than it took to defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in WWII.  The time between Chuck McCullough's arrest and his (still to be begun) trial is longer than Beatlemania (the actual cultural event, the Broadway Show only lasted 869 days).  It's also been longer than each of the original runs of both Breaking Bad and The Brady Bunch.

I make no pronouncements as to the man's guilt or innocence.  That's why there's supposed to be a trial.  But 2,095 days?  Heck Lt Col Oliver North was indicted (on March 16 1988), convicted (on May 4, 1989) and had his conviction vacated (on July 20, 1990) all within 856 days!

Think about that for a second.

UPDATE:  Here's a few more.

• JFK - November 22, 1963 (Assassination of JFK) to September 24, 1964 (Publication of the Warren Commission Report): 307 days
• Civil War - April 12, 1861 (Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumpter) to April 9, 1865 (Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox): 1,458 days
• WWI - July 28, 1914 (Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand) to November 11, 1918 (Armistice signed): 1,597 days

It's taking longer to get Chuck McCullough to trial than it took the Warren Commission to issue its report, for the North to defeat the South in the misnamed (by many) "War of Northern Aggression" and for the Allied Powers to defeat the Central Powers in the equally misnamed "War to End All Wars."

Chuck McCullough Sentencing UPDATE

Guess what?

In a case that took longer than Nixon's presidency to get to trial, where former Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough was ultimately found guilty of five third-degree felonies, this happened yesterday:

The new attorney for former Allegheny County councilman Chuck McCullough, who was found guilty of 10 criminal counts over the summer, accused the judge in the case of making improper statements and has asked him to remove himself.

Megan Will’s motion, filed Friday, delayed Mr. McCullough’s sentencing scheduled for today. It is now slated for Dec. 17.

That's right, delayed. Again.

Wait.  Chuck's got a new attorney?  How many does that make?

From the Trib:

Attorney Megan Will of Somerset, McCullough's fifth defense attorney in a case that has dragged since 2009...

And how long has she been on the case? Again, from the Trib:

Will joined the case Nov. 3.

That's a week ago!  ONE WEEK!  What has Chuck been doing in the 270 days since he was found guilty?

The issue is some ex parte communication.  From the P-G:

An ex parte conversation, which is prohibited, is one in which one party to the case is not present.

Ms. Will included one claim that the judge called Mr. McCullough's trial attorney, Jon Pushinsky, on Dec. 29 and scolded him for filing a court petition; and another claim that the judge told a mutual friend of the defense attorney, "tell Pushinsky to go non-jury," in Mr. McCullough's case.

And so on.  This story, it seems, doesn't want to end.

Chuck McCullough Update

Hey, remember Chuck McCullough?

Remember when he was found guilty of "illegally cutting checks on behalf of an elderly widow to local Republican candidates and a charity his wife ran"?

That was 1239 days ago. And Chuck McCullough still hasn't gone to prison for the crimes for which he was found guilty.

In contrast, it was 1239 + 1 days between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the death of Adolph Hitler.

Guess what's happened?

This:

Former Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough, who was found guilty of taking money from an elderly widow for whom he served as power of attorney, has scored at least a partial procedural victory in his appeal to the state Superior Court.

In a 2-1 opinion, the panel has ordered that Mr. McCullough's motion to have the trial judge recused from his case because of alleged inappropriate, one-sided conversations he had regarding the defendant, be heard again -- this time with the requirement that the judge and defense attorney be permitted to testify.

Ultimately, Mr. McCullough, who has not yet begun serving his sentence, could receive a new trial, but any such development would be months away.

As I remember it, his appeal is on hold pending this issue.

There's also a separate issue:

Mr. McCullough still faces perjury charges that were filed against him shortly after the hearing on the recusal issue. They stem from his statements to Judge Nauhaus, prior to trial, that he was voluntarily waiving his right to a jury trial, and that the decision to have a bench trial was made on his own free will and free from threat.

Why is this an issue? What's the deal on the perjury?

This is what I wrote on February 19, 2017:

Basically, after the non-jury trial was done, he said he took a judge-only trial because he feared repercussions from judge Nauhaus if he didn't. On the other hand, he said under oath that no one threatened or coerced him into taking the judge-only trial. [Bolding in original.]

By the way, Chuck was arrested more than 9 years ago.

A Chapter Closes - Chuck McCullough

Chuck McCullough has been incarcerated.

It even says so in the paper:

Former Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough is in the custody of the sheriff’s office this morning — more than five years after he was sentenced to prison for stealing from an elderly widow.

"More than five years" doesn't begin to tell the half of it. Let's go over some of the dates:

• McCullough arrested on February 9, 2009.
• The trial begins on April 13, 2015. 
• McCullough found guilty on July 31, 2015.
• McCullough sentenced on December 17, 2015.
• McCullough begins serving his sentence on April 6, 2021.

Look at the chronological gaps, my friends. 

• 6 years, 2 months, 4 days between Chuck's arrest and the beginning of his trial.
• 5 years, 11 months, 25 days between Chuck's sentencing and the beginning of his incarceration. 
• 12 years, 1 month, 28 days between Chuck's arrest and the beginning of his incarceration.

All for sentence of 2-1/2 to 5 (with the minimum dropped to 22-1/2 months).

And the gaps get even bigger when you consider when Chuck committed the crimes. From the original complaint we learn that one of the misappropriated checks was actually cut on February 22, 2007. That's 14 years, 1 month, 15 days between the crime and his incarceration. 

For some context about that date, the iPhone (the FIRST iPhone) had been introduced to the world only 44 days before.

This part of the original complaint will probably bubble up in the news:

We'll see. One chapter closes and another one opens.