McCullough perjury trial on hold while he appeals theft convictions
An Allegheny County judge on Thursday agreed to put a hold on former county Councilman Chuck McCullough's perjury trial while he appeals his theft conviction to state Superior Court.
McCullough sought a stay of the June jury trial while appealing his July 2015 conviction on five counts each of felony theft and misdemeanor misapplication of entrusted funds. The latter stem from 2009 charges that he donated money from his elderly client's estate to political campaigns and his wife's charity.
Common Pleas Judge David Cashman granted the stay but said the second trial would be scheduled to begin five days after the Pennsylvania Superior Court's decision in the theft case if it does not rule in McCullough's favor.
Cashman sentenced McCullough in December to 2 1⁄2 to five years in prison for the thefts but allowed him to remain free on bond pending an appeal.
“The delay for the prosecution of Charles McCullough has been quite extensive so far,” Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Fodi argued Thursday at a motions hearing. “The Commonwealth has an interest in moving forward expeditiously.”
Between his conviction and his sentencing, McCullough sought to have the theft case's presiding judge, Lester Nauhaus, recuse himself because McCullough said the judge improperly passed a message to McCullough's attorney urging him to waive his right to a jury trial.
Prosecutors said that and other statements McCullough made in his motion for recusal contradicted his statement under oath that no one threatened or coerced him to waive a jury in favor of a bench trial. The District Attorney's Office charged McCullough in November with two counts each of perjury, false swearing and obstruction of justice, along with one count of unsworn falsification. Defense attorney David Pollock said he sought the delay because it could prejudice jurors to hear about McCullough's theft conviction when considering the perjury charges, but a successful appeal could render that moot.
The Superior Court has not set a date for arguments in McCullough's appeal.
Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer.
