District Attorney

DEFENSE attorneys for two men charged with murdering four people with a car speeding away from an armed robbery persuaded a judge Thursday to bar the most graphic death-scene photos from the trial. The photos of the severed limbs and crushed bones of the three children and young mother killed on the sidewalk at 3rd and Annsbury streets on June 10, 2009, would serve no purpose other than to inflame jurors' passions, said attorneys for Ivan Rodriguez, 23, and Donta Craddock, 21, who are charged with four counts of second-degree murder.

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

PITTSBURGH - For close to two years, Western Pennsylvania has been gripped by the scandalous political saga of the Orie sisters: Jane, the state senator; Joan, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice; and Janine, the fiercely loyal sibling. As the scandal has unfolded - over Bonusgate-like allegations that Jane and Janine made state employees do election chores for Joan on state time - a cynical Pittsburgh public often has seemed as bemused as outraged. The Ories, a well-known family in the North Hills, have angrily called it a "vendetta" and a "mob hit" against them by an ambitious district attorney.

A 14-YEAR veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store, police said. Bridgette Paris, 48, was charged with retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery and related offenses, police said. The charges followed an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Police have not identified the store that Paris allegedly targeted.

Because his personal conflict of interest "permeates the whole office," Montgomery County District Attorney Michael D. Marino has asked the state to take over the investigation of former Abington treasurer Barbara H. McGarry. He said the state attorney general's office would take over the case, and the county investigation would cease. "I'm sending this case out of here," Marino said during an interview Tuesday. Marino previously had said he would let his first assistant, William R. Carpenter, handle the investigation of McGarry and what township officials have said is at least $350,000 in missing taxpayers' money.

Bucks County District Attorney Diane E. Gibbons is expected to join the county bench in January, having apparently swept the Republican and Democratic primaries yesterday. With 63 percent of precincts reporting, Gibbons held sizable leads in both primaries. Without final results, Gibbons was not ready to declare victory late last night, but she said the trend suggested that voters from both parties appreciated her work as district attorney. "If the numbers contine this way, I'd be very proud of that, because I've always tried to represent everybody in this county," she said.

Republican William H. Ryan Jr. of Drexel Hill grinned and rocked back on his heels at the post-election party Tuesday night, savoring his victory as the new district attorney for Delaware County. Ryan had defeated Democrat Richard L. McMonigle of Drexel Hill by nearly 2-1 - the same ratio by which the Republicans had retained their 5-0 grip on County Council, winning all four at-large seats at stake, according to unofficial results provided by county elections staff. "I'm elated, obviously," Ryan said at the Republicans' victory party at the Alpine Inn in Springfield.

AFTER 16 YEARS of Jonathan Saidel as Philadelphia's city controller, it's hard to imagine anyone else in the job. But now that Saidel, who easily won four consecutive turns to the city's top auditor's position, is off to pursue his mayoral aspirations, voters will have to pick from a crowded field of candidates for a replacement. Republican Hillel S. Levinson (above), is easily the most qualified. He gets our strong endorsement for the Nov. 8 election. Given the corrupt politics in City Hall, the controller's job as watchdog over city finances and contracts has become vitally important.

In the Democratic Party primary contest for district attorney of Philadelphia, the question of race has been raised by Alexander Z. Talmadge Jr., an African American and the challenger to 10-year incumbent Lynne Abraham. Talmadge has an uphill battle to unseat Abraham, who has the backing not only of the city's Democratic Party but also of Mayor Street. So why run against an incumbent? Because, as Talmadge surely knows, Abraham is unpopular with much of the African American community.

Come September, lawyers and criminals in the Big Apple may find themselves face to face with one of the most famous faces in America. It is then that John F. Kennedy Jr., 28, a recent New York University Law School grad, begins a three-year stint as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan Criminal Court building. A report in the New York Daily News predicts that young Kennedy's arrival will cause a sensation. But that's nothing new for the man People magazine dubbed "the sexiest man alive" in September, an honor Kennedy probably wishes would go away.

If Pennsylvania Democrats ever hope to elect a state attorney general, this would be the year, with two well-qualified candidates seeking the party's nomination in the April 24 primary. Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Bucks County and Kathleen Kane, a former Lackawanna County assistant district attorney, offer impressive legal resumes, and possess the skill and passion to excel as the state's top law-enforcement official. The winner will face the unopposed Republican, Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed.

A Middletown Township police officer has been cleared in the fatal shooting of a knife-wielding man in what the Bucks County district attorney called "a matter of suicide by cop. " Michael Devine, 64, lured Patrolmen Joseph Schuck and Joseph Buckley to his home with a 911 burglary call about 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, District Attorney David Heckler said Wednesday. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt and brandishing a large carving knife, Devine approached the officers, yelling, "I'm going to kill you," and ignoring orders "to get down on the ground," Heckler said.

Thomas F. Gilson Sr., 83, of Northeast Philadelphia, an assistant district attorney who prosecuted welfare fraud and helped create a program that gave first-time offenders a second chance, died Tuesday of heart failure at his home. When he became an assistant district attorney in 1969, Mr. Gilson was assigned to a program assisting detectives in police districts. In the 1970s, he helped establish and supervise the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program. The program allows defendants who meet certain criteria to have their police records expunged.

I S THE POLICE Advisory Commission on the road to becoming a permanent city agency? City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. told the Daily News yesterday that he plans to finally introduce legislation Thursday calling for a change to the Home Rule Charter to establish a permanent, independent PAC. The commission, which looks into citizen complaints about police conduct, was created under a mayoral executive order 18 years ago and thus could be...

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman asked the county coroner to examine the body of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua two weeks ago because the timing of the 88-year-old prelate's death struck her as "peculiar," she said Friday. Ferman acknowledged that she enlisted County Coroner Walter I. Hofman because the cardinal died one day after a Philadelphia judge said Bevilacqua could be called to testify at the child sex-abuse and endangerment trial of three current and former priests.

At the urging of a federal judge, Pennsylvania Education Secretary Ron Tomalis will meet with Chester Upland School District stakeholders to determine how to keep the schools open until June. Chester Upland, overwhelmed by mounting payments to charter schools, state budget cuts, and a remaining deficit from last year, ran out of money in January. Last month, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ordered the state to advance the district $3.2 million, to keep it open. At a hearing Wednesday before Baylson, attorneys representing the state, the school district, the Chester Community Charter School and parents and students agreed to present their views and financial information to Tomalis by Feb. 10. The education secretary will issue a report outlining a way forward by March 10. Tomalis said Thursday that no date has been set for the meeting.

With Center City's "Gayborhood" and such community institutions as the Giovanni's Room bookstore, Philadelphia Gay News and the Equality Forum that annually draws tens of thousands to issue-events affecting sexual minorities, some might feel crimes based on sexual orientation are part of the past. Helen "Nellie" Fitzpatrick says otherwise. "It hasn't been my whole lifetime that it's been OK to be gay," said Fitzpatrick, 31, a prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office named last month as liaison to the city's LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender - community.

PITTSBURGH - For close to two years, Western Pennsylvania has been gripped by the scandalous political saga of the Orie sisters: Jane, the state senator; Joan, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice; and Janine, the fiercely loyal sibling. As the scandal has unfolded - over Bonusgate-like allegations that Jane and Janine made state employees do election chores for Joan on state time - a cynical Pittsburgh public often has seemed as bemused as outraged. The Ories, a well-known family in the North Hills, have angrily called it a "vendetta" and a "mob hit" against them by an ambitious district attorney.

An overhaul of the Chester County District Attorney's Office, believed to be unprecedented in its scope, has resulted in six departures, four additions, a promotion, mass reassignments - and controversy. Tom Hogan, the newly elected district attorney, said the budget approved last month by the county commissioners contained at least $400,000 in inflated projected revenue for the office. That assessment was disputed by his predecessor, Joseph W. Carroll, who said Tuesday that he submitted realistic numbers for the $9.36 million budget.