Judges deny ex-Pa. high court justice’s appeal

Charges against Joan Orie Melvin upheld

A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice from Allegheny County who has been fighting for years to have her convictions on public corruption charges thrown out has lost again.

A federal appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a judge’s decision to not dismiss Joan Orie Melvin’s convictions for misapplication of entrusted property and criminal conspiracy.

The three-member panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also said it did not have jurisdiction to rule on Orie Melvin’s challenge to the third charge of which she was convicted — diversion of services — and sent that part of her petition back to U.S. District Judge Mark R. Hornak to be dismissed.

Orie Melvin, 63, was found guilty in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court in 2013. District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Orie Melvin had her staff use public resources to do political work during the workday.

Her sisters — Jane Orie, a former state senator, and Janine Orie, the former justice’s judicial aide — were also convicted in connection with the scheme.

In a federal appeal filed in 2015, Orie Melvin argued that her convictions violated due process because they were based on “internal workplace guidelines,” but the appeals court panel disagreed.

“The criminal statutes under which Orie Melvin was charged and convicted exist independent of any internal judiciary workplace rule. And her conviction arises from criminal statutes, not for violating the internal rules,” reads the court’s opinion.

The panel said it did not have jurisdiction to consider Orie Melvin’s challenge to her conviction on the charge of diversion of services because she was not incarcerated or confined on that count.

According to the opinion, “a federal court has jurisdiction to hear a habeas petition only if the petitioner is ‘in custody’ under the judgment of a state court in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States”

Orie Melvin “was determined guilty but sentenced ‘without further penalty’ on count two of her diversion of services convictions,” the court said.

“We’re going to review the decision and see what our next step will be,” said Patrick A. Casey, Orie Melvin’s attorney.