Trial against former Greene County DA, chief detective continues
The trial of a former Greene county district attorney and chief detective accused of using their power to go after foes and political rivals entered its second day Wednesday with testimony from figures at the state level who they had consulted regarding potential charges, as well as employees of Russo’s and other county offices.
Former district attorney David Russo, 49, of Waynesburg, along with his former chief detective, Zachary Sams, 42, of McDonald, appeared before Senior Judge John Wagner, who is presiding over the non-jury trial after recusals by multiple Greene County judges.
Witnesses testified about charges of election interference Russo brought against Commissioner Mike Belding and Solicitor Robert “Gene” Grimm regarding a second drawing of lots to determine the order in which candidates would be listed on the ballot in the 2023 primaries.
The charges against both officials were later dismissed by the attorney general’s office.
Jason Mihal, elections director for Greene County, said Wednesday that he received several objections after the first drawing of lots — done by pulling stones from a pouch — because the meeting had only been advertised in the Observer-Reporter and not the Herald-Standard.
Several candidates, including Russo, refused to participate in the second drawing, Mihal said. Those candidates got moved to the bottom of the ballot after nods of approval from Belding and Grimm, said Mihal, who came up with the idea.
“I fell back on the experience of sporting events and things I’d see, that if you refuse to participate, you move behind those who do participate,” he said.
Matthew Hartzell, deputy chief counsel with the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of General Counsel, said after the second hearing, he had been contacted multiple times by Sams, seeking help on election law.
It was only the second time Hartzell had been contacted by a detective, rather than the election boards who usually contact him regarding election law, he said. At his request, Hartzell said, he wasn’t briefed on every detail of the situation, speaking more generally.
Hartzell did not take a position on whether charges should have been brought, but said he had recommended to Sams he seek out a civil attorney. While there are criminal statutes on the books, they are rarely used, Hartzell said in Wednesday’s testimony.
“He didn’t seem open to that, and wanted to look into the criminal provisions,” Hartzell said, noting that Sams had talked about the “good ol’ boys network” in Greene County that would hamper attempts at a civil remedy.
Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, employees at the district attorney’s office testified they had grown concerned about Russo using his power to attack his political rivals or to set himself up for re-election.
Jessica White, who had been a secretary in the office, said Russo had been invested in the investigation of Patrick Fitch, an attorney then accused of assault who was planning to run against Russo in the coming election. Concerned about a conflict of interest, White drafted up papers referring the case to the state attorney general’s office and presenting them to Russo.
“He had a tendency not to look at things as he was signing them,” she said.
Justin Adams, who worked as a detective in the office from 2020 to 2021, recalled disagreements with Russo multiple times on whether probable cause existed for a case. On one occasion, he said, Russo had asked Adams to look into the finances of Waynesburg council member Lynn Snyder, a critic of Russo’s, believing she was hiding an additional job.
“I made it very clear, I did not have the power or anything to look into someone’s financial records unless I have probable cause,” he said Tuesday.
Detective Jesse Caldwell, who preceded Sams as chief detective, said Wednesday he had believed several cases should have been referred to the attorney general’s office due to the appearance of impropriety, including the Fitch case and that of Snyder. Charges were not ultimately brought in either case.
Caldwell and others in the office “knew that Pat was going to run against Dave, and we felt it would be seen to be a politically targeted investigation,” he said of the Fitch case.
Further testimony dealt with an investigation into the release of an audit report conducted by the county controller that claimed Russo misused asset forfeiture funds in 2022 to help create the SWAT team. The documents, obtained through a Right to Know request by Greene County Republican Chair Clint Blaney, were later posted by Belding on his Facebook page.
County Controller Ami Cree testified Tuesday that department staff had been questioned by Sams in the Waynesburg police station over the matter. Cree said there had been no disclosure of sensitive information in the documents.
The SWAT team expenditures had not been approved as part of the district attorney’s budget, although the county later approved the bills to avoid harming the small businesses that had been used as contractors, Cree said.
Matthew Smith, a special agent with the public corruption section of the Office of the Attorney General, recalled getting a phone call “out of the blue” from Sams in 2023 asking about potential criminal penalties for the disclosure.
Sams told Smith he would prefer to see the matter handled by the attorney general’s office, Smith said Wednesday morning. Being contacted by a detective was unusual, Smith said, who said he usually receives referrals from the district attorney.
Eventually, Smith said, the OAG’s office determined there were no actual penalties or violations connected to the release of the audit.
More testimony dealt with Russo’s handling of “stop the bleed” kits which had been purchased for local ambulances.
Rich Policz, who at the time was acting director of emergency services, became at odds with Russo when he was trying to form the county SWAT team.
The county couldn’t finance it, and didn’t have the minimum of officers trained for it, Policz said.
“The news came and interviewed me about my concerns,” he said. “Three days later, I was arrested.”
Policz and two other emergency officials were accused in 2022 of withholding documents relating to a 2020 incident in which a 911 dispatcher who had declined to send an ambulance to the home of a woman who died one day later. A senior judge later dismissed all charges against Policz and the other emergency officials in November 2023, saying there was not a “scintilla of evidence” providing they had obstructed the search.
Policz said he had also complied with search warrants Russo issued for 13 stop-the-bleed kits with tourniquets and other items, which had been purchased with federal funding for local ambulances.
By court order, those kits were later returned to Policz.
Under cross-examination, Caldwell said he had not refused to execute search warrants regarding the “stop the bleed” kits, or raising concerns about legality.
Russo and Sams both face misdemeanor charges of retaliation for past official action and official oppression, each paired with conspiracy charges.
Russo is also charged with a felony count of conflict of interest and a misdemeanor count of misapplying entrusted government property.
Time had been blocked through Oct. 23 for the trial, which had originally been scheduled to be held before a jury.
More prosecution witnesses were set to testify Wednesday afternoon, although the attorney general’s office could not say for certain if their case would continue into Thursday.