Convicted former state Rep. Bill DeWeese presses his appeal before Pa. court panel

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — An attorney for convicted former state Rep. Bill DeWeese told an appellate court panel the trial judge undercut his defense by limiting the number of witnesses who testified.

William Costopoulos told the three-judge Superior Court panel Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover wrongly barred about 20 people from testifying about a DeWeese directive warning House staffers to confine any political work to their personal time.

The 63-year-old DeWeese was a longtime House Democratic leader and is serving a two-and-a-half to five-year prison term for illegally using public employees and resources for political purposes.

Amy Zapp of the state attorney general's office said judges may set reasonable limits on the number of witnesses and that jurors who convicted DeWeese heard testimony about the directive more than a dozen times during his trial.

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