Judge's wife a daily presence throughout Poplawski trial

Two Mannings scrutinized witnesses and listened to testimony in the death penalty trial of cop-killer Richard Poplawski.

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, 64, presided over the trial in the Allegheny County Courthouse. His wife, Olga Salvatori-Manning, a criminal defense attorney, spent hours each day in the courtroom bringing cups of water to her husband, passing notes to him, looking in on spectators and dimming the lights when lawyers displayed crime scene photos on a projector.

"I've been here daily for the trial, and I'm completely in awe of him," said Salvatori, 45, who became the judge's fourth wife in 2009. "He is a rock."

Salvatori's devotion extends beyond her frequent courtroom presence. This month, before the trial began, she publicly berated KDKA Radio talk show host Marty Griffin in a hallway outside her husband's third-floor courtroom.

She said she was angry on June 3 when she accused Griffin of disclosing "tweeted death threats" against Manning during Griffin's radio show.

"I walked up to (Griffin) and I grabbed his arm like this and said, 'The next time you (expletive) my husband on your radio show, would you not air tweeted death threats,' " Salvatori said in an interview. "It's completely irresponsible."

"I was shocked. I'm a big boy, and I can take it," Griffin said of Salvatori's reaction to him. "I apologize if I did anything to offend him, but I have never heard from him."

Griffin referred to the confrontation during his three-hour radio show on June 6, mocking Salvatori by playing Tammy Wynette's country-western classic, "Stand by Your Man."

Salvatori wanted Pittsburgh newspapers to publish a letter to the editor -- titled Marty Griffin vs. Mrs. Jeffrey Manning -- about the incident.

Griffin said he doesn't recall talking about death threats on Twitter, but said he did talk about a widely reported February 2010 investigation by Sheriff Bill Mullen's office into a death threat against Manning that was spray-painted near a courthouse entrance. Paul Rodriguez Sirmons, 40, of North Huntingdon admitted to spray-painting the threat when police tracked him down.

Mullen said he wasn't aware of any other threats made against Manning.

Salvatori said she spends time with Manning as he performs his judicial duties to offer support. The couple met in 2006 at a retirement party for a judge.

She traveled to Dauphin County when lawyers chose the panel of jurors to decide Poplawski's fate. During lunch breaks, Salvatori accompanied the judge to a Downtown eatery. On other days, she listened to testimony in the packed courtroom and "checked in" on spectators watching the proceedings on closed-circuit TV in a nearby courtroom.

As administrative judge of the criminal division, Manning oversees a computerized system that assigns cases to one of 14 judges. Manning said he personally assigns homicide cases.

He said he would never preside over a case handled by his wife, to avoid a conflict of interest. Instead, the system would assign her case to another judge.

Her long hours involved in the Poplawski trial were unique to the case, he said, because of the hours his staff put in and extra demands of choosing a jury in another county.

"She stepped out of her role as a criminal defense lawyer and stepped into her role as my wife and legal adviser," Manning said.

He declined to talk about Salvatori's dispute with Griffin.

Salvatori acknowledged that she continues to practice in the criminal division before judges who receive assignments from her husband.

President Judge Donna Jo McDaniel said no one has complained about Salvatori being in Manning's courtroom.

"He's lucky to have her," McDaniel said.

A December 2004 Pennsylvania Supreme Court order would prohibit Salvatori from practicing in the division if she were a law clerk for her husband.

The same goes for prosecutors. For example, Alex Cashman, an assistant district attorney, never appears before his father, Judge David R. Cashman, to avoid a conflict, according to a spokesman for the District Attorney's Office.

Attorney Margaret Angel, a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association's Professional Ethics Committee, said a lawyer must tell clients about such relationships under the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct. The rules are in place to protect clients.

"Sometimes you ask them to get another lawyer," Angel said.

Recently, Angel said a federal judge declined to hear any case Angel's firm handled because one of the attorneys is the federal judge's sister-in-law.

Salvatori said her connection to Manning doesn't influence other judges.

"Nobody is meaner to me, and nobody is nicer to me," Salvatori said. "My husband is not the boss of the other judges. They might like him to be, but he's not."

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