Defense attorneys in a Washington County homicide case are moving to disqualify the appointed district attorney amid allegations that he is misusing the death penalty for political gain as he faces a heated election in November.

Jason Walsh, who was appointed to fill the position when District Attorney Gene Vittone died in August 2021, has filed notice to seek the death penalty in 10 cases over the past 16 months.

That, combined with two death-penalty cases that were pending before Walsh’s appointment, gives Washington County a total of 12 pending capital cases — 22% of the 54 pending death-penalty cases in Pennsylvania, according to the defense attorneys. Washington County is home to just more than 200,000 people.

“The notion the district attorney is using his campaign Facebook page to promote the death penalty is unsavory at best and improper and unlawful,” defense attorney Ken Haber argued on Thursday. “There’s plenty of evidence to see this is being done for political gain.”

Walsh, who on Wednesday filed a motion for a gag order to prohibit the attorneys from speaking about the case, said in an interview Thursday that the allegations are “meritless nonsense.”

“The cases are decided based on the facts before me,” he said. “(The allegations) are ludicrous and meritless from two Allegheny County lawyers.”

President Judge John F. DiSalle heard argument at a hearing Thursday morning. DiSalle issued an order denying the motion Thursday afternoon.

In his two-page order, DiSalle wrote, “The court finds the defendants’ exhibits did not support their claim of impropriety, conflict of interest or any other grounds which would support a finding by the court that these cases are proper for intervention by the commonwealth attorney general’s office.”

The case has included allegations of impropriety from both sides, with motions seeking the recusal of the president judge, sanctions against the defense attorneys and now a gag order.

The relationship among the parties is so strained that prior to the start of Thursday’s hearing, Walsh refused to shake hands with one of the defense attorneys when he said good morning.

Haber, along with defense attorney Ryan James, represent Devell Christian. Christian, 34, of White Oak, is accused, along with Sidney McLean, of killing a man working at a convenience store deli in Donora.

Investigators said Christian and McLean entered Anna Lee’s just after 5 p.m. Feb. 24, 2021, and shot Nicholas Tarpley, whose brother owned the store. Police said they fired 10 rounds.

On Oct. 29, 2021, Walsh filed notice that his office would seek the death penalty against both men.

Between that date and Dec. 20, 2022, the defense said, Walsh filed a total of 10 death penalty notices.

Based on the volume of death-penalty cases, Christian’s attorneys filed a motion to disqualify the Washington County DA’s office from prosecuting their client. Citing the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, they asked that Walsh and his office be prohibited from trying the case and that the attorney general’s office take over.

They have filed a separate motion seeking to strike two aggravating factors against their client that make him death-penalty eligible. They include that the men committed the killing during the perpetration of another felony and that they put others at grave risk of death.

McLean, who is represented by Patrick Nightingale, has joined in the motion to disqualify.

In the motion, Christian’s attorneys wrote that the death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the worst of the worst.

But, they argue, Walsh is using it to garner support for his election campaign and to leverage possible cooperation from co-defendants.

Walsh is running as a Republican in the race against Democrat Christina Demarco-Breeden.

During Thursday’s hearing, Haber told the court Walsh’s use of the death penalty is unprecedented.

He also said that Walsh’s campaign has repeatedly posted media coverage of his decision to seek the death penalty to his Facebook page, “Friends of Walsh.”

“Mr. Walsh is the appointed district attorney of Washington County. He has not yet been elected,” the defense wrote in their motion. “He stands for election the first time this year, yet he wields the death penalty so freely and frequently, without the democratic approval of his constituents. As such, under Mr. Walsh’s leadership, there’s ample reason to believe the district attorney’s office is impermissibly leveraging the death penalty and using it for political purposes.”

Haber cited two examples.

Relative to the shooting at the convenience store, police filed charges of criminal conspiracy against Jah Zhanee Inifi Sutton after they said her DNA was recovered from one of the shell casings found at the scene, the defense said.

Even though Pennsylvania statute does not allow for capital punishment for a conspiracy charge, Walsh filed notice in April 2022 that he would seek it anyway.

“It is undisputed in the commonwealth you are not eligible for the death penalty based on the charge of criminal conspiracy,” Haber told the court.

Instead of withdrawing the notice, Walsh added a charge of criminal homicide in May 2022.

“That’s telling,” Haber said. “Having it hanging over her head, weighing on her mind, to get her to do what they want her to do. They want her to be a witness.”

DiSalle noted during Thursday’s hearing that Sutton’s attorneys weren’t present to make that argument, although they previously joined in the motion to disqualify the district attorney.

“Isn’t that a common police tactic to seek cooperation of one or more co-defendants?” the judge asked.

Haber said attempting to leverage cooperation through the threat of capital punishment is improper.

He then cited another Washington County case in which Jordan Clarke, 37, of Peters, is charged with criminal homicide in connection with the death of his infant son on May 23, 2022. Walsh filed notice in August 2022 that he would seek the death penalty.

Haber said Thursday that there have still been no findings as to the cause and manner of the child’s death.

“That case has no bearing on this,” DiSalle said.

“I’m asking you to look at the motivations behind it,” Haber said.

He noted that Walsh posted a story about the Clarke notice on his campaign page.

“There’s plenty of evidence to see this is being done for political gain,” Haber said.

Deputy District Attorney John P. Friedmann, who argued on behalf of the prosecution on Thursday, said the defense failed to present any evidence that shows the Washington County District Attorney’s Office ought to be removed from the case.

“It really comes down to a philosophical difference between the defendants and the commonwealth whether the defendants should be facing the death penalty,” he said.

Friedmann said that Christian’s attorneys failed to show capital punishment was being improperly sought in the Christian case.

He went on to argue that 2021 and 2022 were particularly violent years in Washington County.

“That doesn’t mean the death penalty is being sought for any improper or unlawful purpose,” Friedmann said. “The death penalty has not been sought in every first-degree murder in Washington County. This case is one of the worst of the worst.”

Walsh noted that the defendants were accused of shooting the victim in the back multiple times while he was making a sandwich.

“Execution-style murder has been considered ‘the worst of the worst’ in this commonwealth for years,” the prosecution wrote.

The DA’s office called the defense request for disqualification heavy on rhetoric but said it provides no case law on disqualification.

Throughout its filings, the prosecution has said that the propriety of the death penalty is not an issue for the criminal courts but should go before the public and General Assembly.

However, in a response filed Thursday, the defense said it has not filed any motion challenging the constitutionality of capital punishment.

“Mr. Christian is squarely challenging the (district attorney’s office) pursuit of the death penalty in ways that are unprecedented compared to prior administrations and in ways that are neither reliable nor beyond reproach,” the defense wrote.

In a separate motion filed by the DA’s office on Wednesday, prosecutors sought sanctions against the defense team, alleging that the motion to disqualify was filed “for wholly public relations and political purposes by the defendants and not for any proper purpose to advance the interests of justice.”

The defense responded to the request for sanctions — and a request to limit James’ fees on the court-appointed case — by calling them “asinine.”

Then, later Wednesday, the prosecution filed a motion for a gag order, alleging that the defense wants to litigate the case in the media and not the courts in an attempt to influence the jury pool.

In a response filed Thursday morning, the defense said there is no collusion.

“A new prosecutor who has not weaponized the death penalty must take over this case,” the attorneys wrote. “Only then can Mr. Christian receive a fair trial, and, if convicted, a just sentence. Only then, too, can the public be assured that the prosecution of this case in its name was ‘beyond reproach.’”

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