DeWeese attorney asks former rep remain free on bond pending appeal
The attorney for Bill DeWeese, former state representative who was sentenced to prison last week, filed court papers asking a Dauphin County judge to grant his client a new trial, and allow DeWeese to remain free on bond while his appeal winds its way through the court system.
Judge Todd Hoover sentenced DeWeese, 62, of Waynesburg to 2 ½ to 5 years behind bars for using state employees to conduct campaign tasks. Hoover had ordered DeWeese to report to prison on May 14, but attorney Bill Costopoulos asked Hoover to delay the start of DeWeese’s prison sentence until he fully appealed his convictions for conflict of interest, criminal conspiracy to commit theft, theft by deception, theft of services and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds between 2001 and 2006. Hoover ordered DeWeese to make $117,000 in restitution and fined him $25,000.
A hearing date for the motion for a new trial has not yet been set, nor has Hoover ruled on the request for bond.
DeWeese, who was the lone Democrat on the ballot for the April 24 primary, resigned from the state House the day of his sentencing, ending his 35-year tenure. After his sentencing, DeWeese would have been unable to serve in the legislature because he had been convicted of a crime. He will, however, remain on the ballot as the Democratic candidate for the house in the November election. Unless his convictions are overturned on appeal before January, he can’t serve if elected.
DeWeese was the only sitting legislator to stand trial in the attorney general’s five-year state corruption investigation that resulted in 25 arrests of people connected to the House Democratic and Republican caucuses.
DeWeese’s aide, Sharon Rodavich, was also charged in the probe, and sentenced to five years’ probation for conspiracy to commit theft and conflict of interest. Rodavich, 56, of Carmichaels worked in DeWeese’s Greene County office and she testified at his trial that it was common for his staff to do campaign work on state time.
Hoover ordered her to pay $35,000 restitution, fined her $5,000 and ordered her to do 750 hours of community service.