Lawyer

Today on PhillyDailyNews.com: Explore an interactive timeline of Richard DeCoatsworth's rise and fall. UPDATE, 3:43 p.m.: Former "hero cop" Richard DeCoatsworth has been mistreated by jail guards since being arrested last month and charged with sexually assaulting two women and assaulting a third, his attorney said during a bail hearing Monday afternoon. DeCoatsworth, 27, was not allowed to wear clothing during his first week at the detention center, he's being housed in isolation, a female guard once called him a "dirty rapist" and refused to feed him, other guards have also been "punitive" and he is not getting his mail, defense attorney L. George Parry said.

The same day criminal charges were formally brought against the excavator operator in last week's fatal building collapse in Center City, engineers and lawyers picked through the rubble at the site Sunday, gathering evidence with low- and high-tech equipment for a mounting number of lawsuits. Litigation is underway on behalf of at least four victims of the catastrophe that killed six workers and shoppers at the Salvation Army thrift shop Wednesday morning when a four-story brick wall fell onto the adjoining single-story shop, lawyers said.

Former Liberace boy toy Scott Thorson had a six-year affair with Michael Jackson , reports the London tabloid the Sun. "Liberace introduced me and Michael in the late 1970s," Thorson, 54, tells the Sun. "It was right around the time Thriller was coming out, and Michael and I became lovers. Our relationship went on for six or seven years. Michael was very generous, too. He treated me well. " Thorson, who has colon cancer, was recently bailed out of a Nevada jail, where he was awaiting sentencing on burglary charges.

Albert J. Marcellino, 66, of Berwyn, an engineer who launched a second career as a lawyer, died Friday, May 31, of cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Early in his career, Mr. Marcellino earned dual master's degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration. He went to work for Curtiss-Wright Corp. and then spent 15 years as an engineer in the gas turbine division of Westinghouse Electric Corp. When the latter relocated to Orlando in 1986, Mr. Marcellino chose to stay in Pennsylvania and pursue a law degree at Temple University.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has asked an investigative grand jury to look into the death of Julia Papazian Law, the paralegal whose body was found facedown in a bathtub the apartment of her boss, criminal defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Seth Williams, would say nothing more than to confirm the request for the grand jury's involvement, which was first reported by KYW-Radio....

A Philadelphia judge on Friday ordered the city to preserve the site of Center City's deadly building collapse so experts can examine it for lawsuits by two woman injured by falling rubble at the Salvation Army Thrift store. Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler also directed that any debris removed from the site be preserved for inspection by engineers hired by the plaintiffs. Some building pieces were removed on Thursday by members of the police Crime Scene Unit. Ceisler said the engineers should be allowed to examine the debris at the site once it is made safe.

HARRISBURG - The state Supreme Court turned down appeals Friday by two of the three former Pennsylvania State University administrators facing criminal charges alleging they covered up child sex-abuse complaints against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The justices issued a pair of unsigned orders that denied petitions for review filed by former university vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley. The orders say the justices were not preventing the men from raising the same issue during their prosecution.

P ARIS JACKSON is OK, folks. The 15-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson gave her family quite a scare, however, after she was taken to a hospital early yesterday following an alleged suicide attempt. Perry Sanders Jr ., attorney for Paris' mother, Debbie Rowe , wrote in a statement to the Associated Press that Paris is getting appropriate medical attention and that the family is seeking privacy. "Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are," he wrote.

Developer Michael Samschick has cleared a major hurdle in his plan to convert the old Ajax factory in Fishtown into a Live Nation music venue, his lawyer, Anthony Forte, said Tuesday. To accommodate the theater, which would hold up to 3,000 people, Samschick will have to provide 500 parking spots - not triple that number, as some opponents had urged. Forte said the owner of CoreRealty was working to finalize an agreement to secure the necessary parking by using a lot owned by the state Department of Transportation under I-95.

Richie Phillips, 72, of Berwyn, a lawyer, businessman, and head of the former Major League Umpires Association for two decades until a failed bargaining strategy led to his ouster and the formation of another union, died of cardiac arrest Friday at his second home in Cape May. The combative Mr. Phillips liked to tell friends how at age 13, he organized the altar boys at Our Lady of Angels in West Philadelphia and went out on strike in a spat over...