Orie v. Secretary Pa. DOC—habeas corpus—affirmance—Bibas

Former Pa. State Senator Jane Orie was prosecuted for using state employees for personal gain and then trying to cover it up. At her original trial, she introduced forged evidence (!) in an effort to shift the blame to her chief of staff. After the judge declared a mistrial, she was retried and convicted of original charges plus new evidence-tampering and forgery charges. After her challenges to her conviction were rejected in state court, she filed a federal habeas petition asserting, with chutzpah, that retrying her after the mistrial violated her double jeopardy right. The Third Court thought not.

Joining Bibas were Jordan and Matey. Arguing counsel were William Costopoulos of Costopoulos Foster & Fields for Orie and Ronald Wabby Jr. of the Allegheny County D.A.’s office for the Commowealth.