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DeWeese faces resentencing

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Former lawmaker Bill DeWeese will be resentenced on his public corruption conviction – better known as “Bonusgate” – after the state Superior Court ruled Monday he should not be required to pay more than $116,000 in restitution to the state.

The Superior Court agreed with part of DeWeese’s post-conviction relief motion claiming the $116,668 in restitution should be vacated because the state is not considered a “direct victim” in the case and therefore is illegal.

The court, however, rejected DeWeese’s request for a new trial after he claimed ineffective counsel and that certain witnesses were not permitted to testify.

The case is being sent back to Dauphin County where DeWeese, 67, must be resentenced. The court stated the entire sentence must be re-evaluated so as not to “disrupt the trial court’s overall sentencing scheme.”

The longtime Democratic state representative from Waynesburg was charged in December 2009 and convicted by a Dauphin County jury in February 2012 of conspiracy, conflict of interest and theft. Investigators said DeWeese, who represented Greene County and parts of Washington and Fayette counties, used his position to require his state employees to illegally perform campaign work from 2001 and 2006 and misusing public resources for political purposes. Several other state legislators were also charged and convicted in the “Bonusgate” scandal that rocked the capital.

Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover sentenced DeWeese in April 2012 to 2 ½ to 5 years in prison, fined him $25,000 and ordered him to pay $116,668 in restitution to the state. DeWeese served nearly two years in prison before his release in March 2014.

DeWeese’s Philadelphia-based attorney, Gaetan Alfano, said they are happy with the Superior Court’s ruling to vacate the sentence, but they will appeal the decision not to grant a new trial. DeWeese was not required to pay the restitution while he was appealing his conviction and sentence, Alfano said.

“We’re pleased with the decision that his restitution sentence was illegal,” Alfano said.

A Dauphin County judge ruled last November that DeWeese should not be granted a new trial and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Alfano said they will file a petition for allowance of appeal and present evidence that nearly a dozen witnesses were not permitted to testify that DeWeese had told them not to perform campaign work on public time. However, more than 40 witnesses testified on DeWeese’s behalf during the trial.

No sentencing date has been scheduled for DeWeese.

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