PITTSBURGH -- Channel 4 Action News reporter Bob Mayo is covering the federal trial of Dr. Cyril Wecht at the federal courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. He will be posting blogs as often as possible from court. These are the raw notes that were sent on his mobile device.

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Wecht Day 2 - Jan. 29, 2008

8:29 AM. Jury is seated and chief forensic investigator for Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office Dr. Edward Strimlan is back in the witness seat. He is the first prosecution witness and was questioned on Monday by Assistant US Attorney Jim Wilson. Yesterday afternoon he testified to repeatedly being ordered to do personal errands and driving for Dr Cyril Wecht, Wecht's wife Sigrid, and other Wecht family members when he was a deputy coroner. The government is expected to continue questioning him this morning, then Wecht's attorneys will cross-examine him.

8:37 AM. Judge Arthur Schwab welcomes the jury back. Testimony for Day Two begins. US Attorney Jim Wilson directs Strimlan's attention to a document concerning the death of a Mr. Charles Dumont. (Spelling?) Notification of next of kin was made. It was a "no jurisdiction storage case."

Asks if an "unclaimed body" sometimes a temporary designation. He answers that sometimes family may not immediately claim.

Q: There are also sometimes bodies for which family is never found? Yes.

(Note: I will not be live blogging the testimony in the same detail as the opening arguments. I will selectively add notes, as we go. I'm writing this on my PowerBook, which I'll be synching.)

Who Todd Smith is? With a livery service. A subcontractor used by funeral directors to transport bodies. Bodies not immediately claimed were sometimes taken for embalming.

Records are kept of what time body left and returned to the Medical Examiner's Office (Coroner's Office).

Direct attention to another government exhibit dealing with Mr. Dumont.

Body released on 15th of November, 2005.

Another government exhibit: death certificate for Charles Dumont. It is an official record of the Commonwealth of PA.

If there's a person who passed away under natural causes, and so no reason for coroner's office to be involved, body will still come to coroner's office for temporary storage if no arrangements have yet been made. The doctor who's been caring for the person will handle cause and manner of death.

Form is checked "no" concerning whether there was an autopsy. Q: Have you seen any information from the coroner's office that would justify an autopsy on this person? No.

Does this document show a trip to Pittsburgh School of Mortuary Science? A: Crossed out, Carlow College written in.

Q: Was there any need to re-embalm at Carlow College. No.

Do you know who at Carlow College did an autopsy on Charles Dumont? No, sir. Is there any indication that there was a necessity of an autopsy on the body of Charles Dumont? No. Next of kin gave permission? No. Any record that sister was ever asked? No sir.

Any record that Dumont's body was anything other than a body to be stored until his sister could make arrangements? No, sir.

Q: At this time was the coroner's office aware of next of kin for Mr. Dumont? Yes, sir.

Any document that shows a justification for sending Mr. Dumont's body to Carlow College? No, sir.

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Wecht Day 2 - Jan. 29, 2008 - 9:49 a.m. update

Another document for receipt of body of Michele Rohasky (sp?) Sept 21, 2005.

Relatively young when she passed away. 9/21/2005 at 10:00 AM. Next of kin on this document: Mark Rohasky. Husband notified 9/25. This was a "no jurisdiction storage case". Passed away at funeral home. Arrangements not yet made. Brought to coroner' s office for temporary storage.

Document says Joseph Angotti is deputy coroner working on this case. Also Deputy Coroners Fred Manno (sp?) and Vislay (sp?). It took them a few days to find next of kin.

More than three weeks passed in trying to find a next of kin to claim body. At that point about 8 deputies involved.

Document shows arrangements for unclaimed body to be cremated. Another for it to be buried.

Document marked "no autopsy performed".

Another document shows her body sent to Carlow College for autopsy. Date of removal is 9/21/05 on this document. That's the *same day* the body came into the coroner's office.

Ever had a search for next of kin considered to be exhaustive after three hours and 10 minutes? No, sir.

How did you first learn of autopsy program at Carlow College? Deputies called into Chief Deputy Joe Dominick's office and informed storage bodies were going from Coroner's office to Carlow College for autopsy.

Any instructions about getting permission from next of kin? No, sir.

Told that Joe Mancuso, who worked privately as an autopsy technician for Dr. Wecht, would handle the transport.

He answers some deputies were hesitant about the process.

Were you aware whether bodies were going to Carlow College? I was called by Mr. Mancuso, who asked for a specific body. He mentioned the name of a deceased who was brought in the night before.

Did anyone in the coroner's office make an effort to document the bodies going back and forth to Carlow College? Not initially.

After the investigation became evident, that they were questioning the bodies going to Carlow, Mancuso and Dominick got in touch, asking how many bodies had gone to Carlow, and what the names were. He told them he had no such list.

Did anyone in the coroner's office appear to have any idea? No, sir.

Recall news media reporting Dr. Wecht may be under federal investigation. Yes. Noticed that files (he believes personal files on Dr. Wecht's cases) were gone from the desk of Eileen Young, Wecht's personal assistant.

Conversation concerning George Hollis. Dr Wecht asked me to call Hollis and have him get in touch with Wecht as soon as possible. Later saw Hollis's car in Wecht's parking space. In back seat, histology lab materials.

Shortly after, Dr. Wecht called and asked a coroner's office investigator to meet him on the investigator's "lunch hour". Says they didn't actually have a formal lunch hour.

Later, Dr. Wecht asked him, wanted information on getting cell phones so he, Young, and Mancuso could communicate without use of county phones.

Can you explain how it is that her (Rohasky's) remains came in to the coroner's office and went out the same day to Carlow for a student autopsy?

He was told they no longer wanted embalmed bodies for Carlow. Says they wanted bodies that had not yet been embalmed.

Was there any benefit to Allegheny County to these bodies going to Carlow? No, sir. To the families? No, Sir.

9:42 AM: Government finishes questioning Strimlan.

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Wecht Day 2 - Jan. 29, 2008 - 10:36 a.m. update

9:43 AM Cross-examination of Strimlan by Wecht attorney Jerry McDevitt. Q: When a Wecht attorney, Mr. Rush, tried to speak to you, you refused, said you were too busy? Yes.

How many times spoke with FBI agent Orsini? 5 to 10. Other FBI agents? At least 10 to 20 different times.

First time? When group came to coroner's office to execute a search warrant.

Did the FBI tell you that you were not a target? Yes, sir.

302s are FBI agent investigative reports.

Did you review the 302s before your testimony? Did you find errors? Yes. Which? Doesn't remember.

McDevitt is having him look at a binder containing 302s, checking to see which and how many of those FBI reports contain errors.

After Dr. Wecht was indicted, Agent Orsini was asking you questions about records of bodies going to Carlow College? Yes.

You were assisting after the indictment in a reconstruction? Yes.

Did you find errors in your grand jury testimony? Yes, sir. Hand-wrote in corrections. For example, he clarified that he is not licensed to practice medicine in PA.

Do you have any immunity from prosecution? No, sir.

Do you have any understanding from the federal government of what would happen to you if you were found to do the same things Dr Wecht is accused of doing? No, sir.

Have you disclosed to them whether you used coroner's office facilities for matters unrelated to your job for personal financial benefit? Yes, sir. Is it recorded in the government documents? No sir.

Did you disclose to FBI agent Orsini any use by you of coroner's office facilities? Yes, sir. I've probably faxed something.

Did you do anything else? I'm not sure. I don't remember every phone call I made, every piece of paper?

Sold novelty t-shirts he and others had made, and stored them in a locker at the coroner's office. It was pubic knowledge you were running a private business after the coroner's office.

He and another employee talked about making and selling t-shirts with "Wecht 84" on them; the 84 is a reference to the original number of federal indictments against Wecht.

Anything in those FBI 302 reports about your t-shirt business? No, sir.

Do you have any expectation that if you did the same things Dr. Wecht has done that you'd be prosecuted for it? I've never been told.

Has the man ever done anything to hurt you personally? No, sir. He's been very supportive of me.

He, Strimlan, earns money teaching at Carlow, Point Park, Pitt.

10:29 AM: Judge says 20-minute break.

Prosecution asks for sidebar discussion with judge and defense.

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Wecht Day 2 - Jan. 29, 2008 - 12:33 p.m. update

Note: The T-shirts sold by Strimlan out of the office were called "Reaper Wear"... as in the Grim Reaper.

10:52 AM: Back.
McDevitt questioning what Strimlan told the FBI about when he went to school and what sort of degree he has. Was off by three years when he first spoke to FBI.

He got a medical degree from a school in the Caribbean and is not licensed to practice medicine in Pennsylvania.

The defense has introduced an exhibit which includes Strimlan's application to be hired at the coroner's office. McDevitt is asking questions which point out discrepancies between his account of his educational history in that application and what Strimlan told the FBI during its investigation of Wecht.

McDevitt gets permission from the judge to introduce documents obtained from Carlow University. They are Strimlan's accounts of his personal history in a job application there.

He's now walking Strimlan through discrepancies between his education and work history in that exhibit and what he told the FBI.

McDevitt is attempting to undermine Strimlan's credibility in the eyes of the jurors.

Have you ever used the copying machine at the coroner's office to copy your teaching materials? Indicates he has.

Have your ever worked on your syllabus for your classes on coroner's office time? Yes, sir.

On county time, on county money? Yes, sir.

Indicates it was during down time.

Do you use coroner's materials for course content? Things that were supplied to him, yes.

Have you ever left the office while you were on duty? Said he used "comp time" to leave to teach one class at Carlow.

Have you ever, while at the coroner's office graded student tests? Yes sir. Before starting work.
Ever used county fax machine to send your syllabuses. Yes, sir.
Ever use county computer to trade stocks? No, sir.

McDevitt mentions a book in which the author mentions Strimlan checked his stocks on a county computer. Strimlan acknowledges checking the stocks.

Dr. Wecht was the elected coroner? Yes, sir. Under the law, was it ultimately the coroner's power to determine what was to be done with unclaimed body? Strimlan indicates he doesn't know.

You teach at Carlow? You understand that all along those cadavers were used to teach students? Yes, sir.

Prior to this practice at Carlow, it's it true that for years unclaimed bodies were sent to the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science? Used to educate on the art embalming? Yes, sir. Acknowledges that was also the case for many other counties.

Q: Would you agree bodies always used for education? Yes, sir.

Do you have students in your class that were also in Wecht's classes? Yes, sir. They love Dr. Wecht.

You understand that Dr. Wecht resigned when he was indicted? Yes, sir. He's still teaching there? Not one cadaver sent down since he resigned? No, sir.
(This question is intended to raise questions in the jury's mind about the claim that Wecht had a deal for lab space in exchange for bodies. It points out that Wecht is still at Carlow, but there are no bodies coming in there.)

Do you recall any cadavers ever being sent to Carlow in 2003? No, sir.
Did you tell federal investigators that the only records you could think of that could show anything were records of transfers of bodies to Carlow? Yes, sir.
But no one came to you and asked for those records until after the indictment? Yes, sir.

Did Dr. Wecht ever tell you to follow any procedure other than to send unclaimed bodies to Carlow? Dr. Wecht never addressed him on that.
Did Dr. Wecht or Joe Dominick ever tell you to follow anything other that next-of-kin notification procedures? No, sir.

The suggestion here that death certificates should be changed so as to indicate students had done them for learning purposes would be misleading, wouldn't it? If the coroner's office had changed the state death certificates, it would have been misleading, because it might suggest that the coroner's office had done one to determine the cause and manner of death? Strimlan acknowledges the possibility.

Did you have any knowledge that Dr. Wecht had any role in the way the DuMont case was handled by deputy coroners? No, sir.

You don't have any personal knowledge of what happened in the DuMont case, do you? No, sir.

In the Rohasky (sp?) case, did Dr. Wecht give any instructions to shortchange the next of kin notification procedures? No, sir.

Did Dr. Wecht have an open door policy? Yes, sir. Did you ever tell him you had any reservations about unclaimed bodies being provided to Carlow College? No, Sir.

You never went in to Dr. Wecht and voice any suspicion that George Hollis was using the coroner's office to do private work? No, sir.

Let's switch to the "Wecht details" logbooks. Did you ever hear it referred to as "the book of lies"? No, sir.
Anyone responsible to assuring the accuracy of what's in the logbooks? Doesn't know.
How many of the ones you reviewed yesterday were written by you? None. Thinks it was done by Susan Miller.
So, there's not one corroboration in the logbook of the incidents you described yesterday? No, sir.
Were deputy coroners ever told to write things in that book to make sure it looked like they were busy doing things? Heard different accounts over time. Over the years it's had multiple purposes.
None of those instructions to put things in the logbook ever came from Dr. Wecht, did they? No, sir.

On a slow day, how many bodies may be handled by the coroner's office? Answers that on an average day, 0 to 12 bodies. Slow day, maybe four.
What do coroner's deputies do while waiting? We can watch television, read paper. We have to sit there and wait for the phone to ring.
Q: Play computer games on the computer? Yes sir.

Yesterday you talked about a hot dog incident, didn't you? Yes.
Mentioned it involved when David Wecht was running for Prothonotary; did you mean Register of Wills? He's not sure.
What year did David Wecht run for Register of Wills? Do you remember the year of the hot dog incident? No, sir.
If it did happen and it was when he ran for Register of Wills, it would have been in 1997? That's not even in this century, was it?

Wecht Day 2 - Jan. 29, 2008 – 12:17 p.m. update

Judge says they're taking the lunch break now. Tells everyone to stay after jury leaves the room.
Judge question to the lawyers: Did any of you talk to any juror, today? All say "no, your honor."
Did anyone coming in have any contact with any juror, if we look at the security tape? Prosecutors say they came in through garage entrance. Defense attorneys say they walked in in a group, don't recall juror being there.
Judge: as I've said before, none of you should have even the most casual contact with juror, or appearing you have contact with jurors. You need to be extremely careful, no matter how casual you may think it is.

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(Check back soon for more updates from court.)