PITTSBURGH -- Testimony has ended in the federal corruption trial of celebrity pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht after the defense rested its case without calling any witnesses.

Bob Mayo Has the Update

Wecht, who has led inquiries into the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Vincent Foster among others, is accused of using his government staff as bookkeepers, secretaries, couriers and gofers for his family and his private pathology practice.

Prosecutors said Wecht, 76, illegally used the county workers to cut costs in his private practice, which grossed nearly $9 million from 1997 through 2004. He never made more than $64,000 a year as county coroner.

On Tuesday, prosecutors rested their case after calling their final six witnesses Tuesday morning.

As Judge Arthur Schwab was headed for his exit from the courtroom, defense attorney Jerry McDevitt called him back, telling him they too were resting their case. They did not call any witnesses.

The jury was then dismissed for the day.

The former Allegheny County coroner wasn't talking as he left federal court. The prosecution rested after taking this trial into its seventh week, and the defense's decision took many by surprise.

Wecht's defense team isn't talking publicly about their decision to rest their case without putting a single defense witness on the stand.

So what does this all mean, and what comes next?

Wecht's attorneys are expected to file a written motion for the judge himself to dismiss all of the charges without the case going to the jury.

The prosecution's last major witness, former Carlow University President Sister Grace Ann Geibel, testified that her agreement with Wecht was not to trade bodies for office space.

But judge Schwab issued a written ruling today that "her characterization of the defendant's agreement with Carlow does not establish, as a matter of law, that there was no agreement," and "the indictment does not require the government to prove an agreement explicitly stating that cadavers would be traded for free lab space."

So far, the judge has not often been convinced by defense arguments. In a written opinion filed Tuesday, he described one of their arguments as "fundamentally flawed."

Wecht has been on trial for more than six weeks on charges that he used his public office for private gain.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.

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