McCullough’s motion for judge to be removed from case denied

A judge has denied a motion by former Allegheny County Councilman Chuck McCullough to remove the trial judge in his criminal case, and McCullough, again, plans to appeal.

McCullough’s attorney, Adam Cogan, filed a notice with Common Pleas Court on Thursday challenging the findings of Judge David R. Cashman. In an order signed May 8 — the same day Judge Cashman heard testimony from two court employees relative to McCullough’s allegations — the court found that McCullough’s petition to have Judge Lester G. Nauhaus removed from his case lacked merit.

That sets the stage for the appeal to be returned to Superior Court.

McCullough, an attorney, was convicted in a nonjury trial before Judge Nauhaus in 2015 of taking money from an elderly woman

whom he represented. He was ordered to serve 2½ to five years in prison, but the sentence has been on hold.

In December, the state Superior Court found that McCullough was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a motion he filed following the guilty verdict, but prior to sentencing, to recuse Judge Nauhaus from his case.

McCullough accused him of having improper ex parte communications with his defense attorney at trial, Jon Pushinsky, about, among other things, whether McCullough should have had a jury or nonjury trial. McCullough alleged that he wanted to have his case heard by a jury, but he felt pressured to have a nonury trial after Judge Nauhaus made comments about the case to a mutual friend of Mr. Pushinsky’s.

“A comment by a judge about his views about the merits of the case, the merits of going nonjury, whatever nomenclature you want to assign to it, should never have happened,” Mr. Cogan argued to Judge Cashman, according to transcripts of the hearing. “It ultimately reaped devastating consequences here. It’s terrible what happened.”

In addition, McCullough accused Judge Nauhaus of having told his secretary during the trial that he thought the prosecution had failed to prove its case, but that she responded that he’d have to find McCullough guilty of something. Judge Nauhaus ultimately convicted McCullough of five counts each of theft and misapplication of funds.

During the May 8 hearing, Mr. Cogan called the judge’s former secretary, Peggy Moore, as well as a minute clerk in the criminal division, Janine McVay, about McCullough’s allegations.

Both women testified briefly, denying ever having any conversation about McCullough’s charges with the other.

Deputy District Attorney Mike Streily noted to Judge Cashman that the charges were first filed against McCullough in 2009. The prosecutor told the court that McCullough was an attorney who had expressed on the record during pretrial proceedings that he would not be intimidated by the courts and who knew how the process worked.

It was only after his conviction that McCullough raised the issues of recusal, Mr. Streily said. He knew, the prosecutor continued, that if the conversation with Ms. Moore had happened, he could have immediately moved for a mistrial, but he did not.

“Your honor, I’m asking you, it’s been a decade. Mr. McCullough needs to go to prison.”