Paula Reed Ward stories

Paula Reed Ward

Pa. is among 10 states that do not compensate the wrongfully convicted

Pennsylvania is one of just 10 states that has no compensation program for those who are wrongfully convicted. Of those 10, it is the most populous and has the most wrongful convictions, according to data kept by the National Registry of Exonerations. Since 1989, 148 people have been exonerated in...
The inside story of how a Bloomfield fatal arson conviction unraveled

Daniel Carnevale has always insisted he didn’t set the fire that killed three people in Bloomfield more than 30 years ago. That didn’t stop police from arresting him on what his lawyers say was flimsy evidence. Imprisoned for nearly 14 years after a jury convicted him of murder, Carnevale eventually...
Judge extends sealing of DA’s search warrant on City of Pittsburgh for 30 days

An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge on Wednesday granted a request by the district attorney’s office to extend the seal on a search warrant seeking information from the City of Pittsburgh for 30 more days. The order, signed by Judge Jill E. Rangos, will keep the search warrant and affidavit...
Defendant’s interview played for jury in McKeesport murder trial

The detectives believed Isaac Smith. The then-25-year-old voluntarily arrived at Allegheny County Police headquarters on Sept. 13, 2021 — hours after the body of a woman who he’d been seeing was found in the backyard of a house in McKeesport. Smith told investigators he and Karli Short had been intimate,...
Security guard at Ballers Hookah Lounge in Penn Hills gets 10 years for fatal shootingVideo

Christine Bailey said she can’t get the image out of her mind. Displayed on the projection screen in the courtroom, it showed her daughter lying on the floor of an after-hours club in Penn Hills after she had been shot to death by a security guard. On Wednesday, Bailey told...
Trial begins in congressional district election petition fraud case

Four witnesses in a row took the stand on Tuesday and denied ever signing the nominating petition in question. No, that was not their signature. No, they would not have signed a petition for Steve Irwin, who in 2022, was campaigning for the Democratic primary against then-state Rep. Summer Lee....
Trial begins in 2021 shooting death of McKeesport woman

Isaac Smith’s burner phone was the last one to call Karli Short just minutes before she was shot. The revolver he bought six weeks before Short was killed — and pawned two weeks after — was the murder weapon. And, prosecutors told a jury Tuesday, Smith had motive: He killed...
‘She oozed hope and light’: Uniontown man sentenced in fatal Route 8 truck crash

Jackie Hutz had talked to her sister, Cinnamon Gilch, five times that morning. They were getting ready for a family birthday party in North Park. The last time they spoke, the two women discussed how many pizzas they would need to celebrate Gilch’s 4-year-old granddaughter’s birthday. The answer was 10....
5 lawsuits filed against Southwood Psychiatric Hospital alleging abuse

Five former patients at Southwood Psychiatric Hospital and their families are suing the facility in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court alleging abuse by either fellow patients or staff while they were treated there. Among the allegations, that the patients were sexually assaulted and physically abused. The five separate lawsuits, filed...
Man gets 54 months in prison for lottery scam targeting older Americans

A Jamaican man who pleaded guilty to being part of a multi-million-dollar lottery fraud targeting older adults will serve 4 1/2 years in federal prison. Tajay Singh, 29, was sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville in Pittsburgh as part of a plea agreement. He is one...
Murder suspect stabbed to death at Allegheny County Jail

A 44-year-old incarcerated man at the Allegheny County Jail died after being stabbed on Wednesday afternoon, officials said. Warden Trevor Wingard emailed members of the Jail Oversight Board at 2:23 p.m. to report the death, which he said occurred at 1:10 p.m. The incident, the email said, was on Pod...
North Side woman accused of taking $220K from man with dementia

A North Side woman is accused of stealing more than $220,000 from a man with dementia after meeting him online, according to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office. Susan Elizabeth Larkin, 80, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property and access device fraud. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July...
Allegheny County makes a push for paid parental leave

The Allegheny County Board of Health on Wednesday unanimously approved a measure to seek public comment on a proposal offered by the county health department to provide 18 weeks of paid parental leave for all employees across the county. The proposal would be the first of its kind by an...
David Wecht’s decision to leave Democratic Party is symbolic, experts say

The announcement this week by Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht that he was renouncing his Democratic Party affiliation amid what he feels is growing antisemitism in the party likely will have a limited impact on him politically. That’s because Wecht, who won another 10-year term on the bench in...
Pittsburgh native and Pa. Supreme Court Justice David Wecht changes party affiliationVideo

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David N. Wecht on Monday renounced his registration as a Democrat and said that moving forward he will be an independent. The decision, he said in a news release, is based on his feelings that antisemitism in the Democratic Party is growing. “Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants,...
Wilkinsburg man accused of threatening Trump, senator remains detained after hearing

A Wilkinsburg man who characterizes himself as a non-violent Quaker but, officials say, left voicemails for a U.S. senator calling for the death of billionaires, ICE agents and Donald Trump will be held in custody pending trial. Raymond Eugene Chandler III, 40, is charged in federal court in Pittsburgh with...

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