PITTSBURGH -- The U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh will drop all counts in a federal indictment against Dr. Cyril Wecht, the former Allegheny County medical examiner who has been fighting public corruption charges since 2006.

"I'm delighted this is over," Wecht said at a news conference Tuesday. "My wife here with me has been courageous and fantastic, as have my four children and their spouses."
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Free from prosecution, Wecht took a verbal jab at U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, whose office has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing a federal case against the 78-year-old Squirrel hill pathologist.

"Who is the biggest sore loser -- LeBron James or Mary Beth Buchanan? That's the question for the American public," Wecht said, referring to James' decision not to shake hands with Orlando's Dwight Howard after being eliminated from the NBA playoffs last week.

Wecht's comment came in response to Buchanan's news conference earlier Tuesday, when Buchanan maintained that her office had made the right decision to prosecute him in the first place.

"He wasn't acquitted of anything. I mean, it was a hung jury," Buchanan said, referring to a mistrial that was declared last April at the federal courthouse downtown. "So, six jurors were set to convict and six were not. However, everybody in our society is innocent until proven guilty, so, you know, as we stand today, he's still innocent."

Wecht's lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, said Buchanan's comments showed "the same lack of judgment that has fueled this case from day one," and he suggested she resign.

"I thought that was inappropriate and low-rent, quite frankly, to be standing in a press conference making those kinds of charges when she knows she didn't prove them and couldn't prove them," said McDevitt.

Bob Mayo's Blog: Buchanan Quotes on Wecht Case
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When asked if prosecuting Wecht was worth the cost to do so, Buchanan scoffed at the question. She said the total was less than $500,000 because existing prosecution salaries and resources were used.

"You know, I've read that this prosecution cost millions of dollars, and that's wild exaggeration," Buchanan said.

The original 84-count indictment was filed in January 2006, and a grand jury/FBI investigation took up much of the prior year. Wecht said he's broken financially after defending himself over the years.

"All that I built up and all that my wife and I saved is gone," Wecht said. "The money that I wanted to leave with my children, and to my 11 grandchildren, is all gone and I am very much in debt."

Wecht had been accused of using his county staff and resources to benefit his multimillion-dollar private practice. The allegations included overbilling private clients for limousines and air fares, ripping off prosecutors for mileage fees as an expert witness and using his government staff to benefit his private practice.

"I'm absolutely confident that it was the right prosecution to bring," Buchanan said. "This case has never been about anything other than criminal violations. This was a use of county resources -- a use of our taxpayer dollars for private gain. That's fraud. That's a crime. And this case was worth bringing."

U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab declared a mistrial in April 2008 when the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked. A second trial had been requested by the government -- but not yet scheduled -- before Buchanan decided to drop the charges.

All but 14 of the original charges had already been dismissed, and Buchanan said it would have been difficult to continue after U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin's ruling last month that evidence seized with two search warrants at Wecht's office cannot be used in court.

"The evidence that we had at the time, that we thought we had at the time, would have supported those charges," Buchanan said.

Wecht -- who has gained fame for his work on the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Vince Foster -- said he doesn't know if there's any way to recover some of his financial losses through legal action.

"It's not a matter, at this time, of vengeance and getting back at anybody," Wecht said. "It's a matter of enjoying the moment, appreciating what has transpired, expressing my gratitude to everybody."

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