Trib appeals decision to delay release of juror names from Sheriff Held's public corruption trial

The Tribune-Review on Tuesday filed an appeal of a judge’s order delaying the public release of the names of jurors who served in last month’s public corruption trial of Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held.

Senior Common Pleas Judge Timothy Creany in late December ruled the names will remain private until after Held’s retrial, which is scheduled to begin April 1.

Creany declared a mistrial in the case against Held after jurors failed to reach a verdict following three days of testimony and hours of deliberations.

The appeal filed with the state Superior Court is necessary to preserve public access to the court system, Tribune-Review attorney David Strassburger said.

“We are faced with an issue of a need to protect some of the most fundamental constitutional protections of our republic. This is an issue of access to criminal proceedings, but it also involves allegations of corruption by a public official. These important issues are at the core of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Commonwealth v. Long, and we need to pursue enforcement of that important decision,” Strassburger said.

A decade ago, the state Supreme Court ruled that the names of jurors should be made public in most cases.

That ruling stemmed from a Tribune-Review effort challenging a local judge who refused to make public the identity of jurors who convicted former Ligonier podiatrist Karl Long of third-degree murder for the death of his wife in the late 1990s. The judge in Long’s case said he was protecting juror identities because he was concerned about their safety and claimed efforts were made during the trial to influence their decision.

No allegation of jury tampering has been made in Held’s case, and the judge ruled in favor of public access to juror names but not until after the sheriff’s case is concluded.

State prosecutors contended Held directed office staff to perform campaign chores for his re-election efforts while they were on duty in the sheriff’s department.

The Held jury initially announced that it had found the two-term Republican guilty of felony conflict of interest and misdemeanor theft. That verdict was negated after one juror in open court said he didn’t agree with the announced decision.

Juror No. 6 told the judge and the packed courtroom that he was the last holdout among the jurors and that he could not confirm his verdict. Creany ordered deliberations to continue, but a mistrial was declared when jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.