PITTSBURGH -- A federal judge declared a mistrial on Tuesday morning and ordered a second trial for ex-Allegheny County coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht, after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict.
If Wecht wants to fight the government's request for a new trial, U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab said motions must be filed by April 18.
"To announce immediately that they want to retry it, after they utterly failed in their efforts to convict Dr. Wecht, is a miscarriage of justice," defense attorney Dick Thornburg said.
Wecht, speaking publicly for the first time since the trial began, said his family has had to endure three years of federal investigation and persecution.
"We've been living under this cloud for all that time. The emotional drain has been absolutely unbelievable," Wecht said.
A juror, who wished not to be named, said a majority of the 11 men and women were leaning to the find Wecht not guilty. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the juror said only a few jurors thought Wecht was guilty.
Dismissed juror Chaplain Stanley Albright said the trial took a toll on more than Wecht.
Albright was dismissed last week when he appeared to be having a heart attack. His doctor instructed him not to return to deliberations.
When he left, he said the jury was at an impasse on all but three of the charges. He would not indicate how it was split.
"I could tell you this, they were telling the truth when they said more deliberation wouldn't help," said Albright.
His said it was unclear to him whether or not Wecht broke the law.
"For me, I was looking for the crime," said Albright. "I couldn't seem to find the crime, he did some things wrong, but, I couldn't find the crime."
Last week, the jurors told Schwab that they were deadlocked after deliberating since March 18, but Schwab told them to go back to the jury room and try again.
Following Schwab's instructions, the panel of 11 jurors met for about four hours Monday morning and for about an hour Tuesday, before telling him again that they could not come to a decision on Wecht's fate.
When the prosecution requested a retrial, Schwab set a date of May 27.
It was "a bizarre ending to one of the most unfair trials in Pittsburgh history," said Jerry McDevitt, another one of Wecht's defense attorneys.
"I think what happened in that courtroom today was an utter disgrace on every level," said McDevitt.
Wecht faces 41 counts, mostly mail and wire fraud, for allegedly having his county employees do paperwork and errands related to his private practice on county time.
"I forced them to drive with me to the airport. Wasn't that terrible. So, these are the crimes, you know, that I've committed," Wecht said. "I mean, you know, I walk into the courtroom and you'd think I just came back from killing Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan."
The prosecution also alleges that Wecht used his authority as coroner -- which was an elected county office at the time -- to trade unclaimed bodies for private lab space at Carlow University.
"We are committed to eliminating the culture of corruption that prevails when officials at the highest levels abuse the public trust," U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said in a written statement. "Allegations of wrongdoing by public officials can be both challenging to investigate and prove. A deadlocked jury means only that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges presented. The government bears the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, each element of every count charged."
Defense attorneys have maintained that the charges are false and politically motivated.
"I think it's a sad day, I'll be honest with you, when you have to go through what Dr. Wecht has gone through," McDevitt said. "This stuff is not supposed to happen in America."
"A nickel-dime prosecution, when there is rampant crime, terrorism, other kinds of threats that affect the American people," Thornburg said.
Albright, once juror No. 1, said Wecht should reimburse the county for the expenses that are in question in his trial.
"To me, that's what he should do. But go to jail? I don't know," said Albright.
Over seven weeks, the jury
heard 22 days of testimony, followed by
closing arguments.
Prosecutors called 44 witnesses during the trial. Wecht's defense rested without calling any.
The government has spent at least $204,000 in the federal prosecution of Wecht, according to an estimate by WTAE Channel 4's news exchange partner, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Wecht said the long legal battle has hurt him financially, but he gets moral support from others when he testifies elsewhere as an expert witness.
"I mean, you know, I walk into the courtroom and you'd think I just came back from killing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan," he said.
The accused pathologist also said he's prepared to continue fighting the charges against him.
"If I have to spend the rest of my years, then so will it be," Wecht said.
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