More than two years after being charged with taking cash in envelopes from an undercover operative posing as a lobbyist, Democratic state Rep. Vanessa Brown could be going to trial next month.
At a hearing Thursday in Dauphin County Court, Judge Scott Evans at set a tentative date for the start of her trial for Feb. 13.
But Evans still must first rule on several lingering court motions filed by Brown's Scranton-based lawyer, Pat Casey, including one contending that the Democratic legislator from West Philadelphia was a victim of entrapment and that prosecutors targeted her because of her party affiliation and race.
Casey is also asking the judge to exclude testimony Brown gave in late 2014 to a grand jury in Philadelphia during which she admitted wrongdoing.
Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson, who together with Assistant DA Brad Bender is prosecuting Brown, on Thursday called Casey's flurry of motions -- including one filed this week -- a delay tactic.
"I am under the distinct impression that the entire defense in this case is to delay the trial so that she can remain in office as long as possible and collect a government paycheck," said Gilson.
Brown is the last defendant in the case that grew out of a sting investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office between 2009 and 2012 in which an undercover operative, Tyron Ali, offered cash or money orders in exchange for official favors, recording the conversations.
Former Attorney General Kathleen Kane secretly shut down the case in 2013, but it was resurrected the next year by Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.
Williams's office later charged six elected officials in the case. Of those, five have pleaded guilty or no contest.
Brown is the remaining defendant, charged with taking $4,000 from Ali. She initially agreed to plead guilty in the case, even providing testimony before the grand jury in Philadelphia during which she admitted she had taken the money and that she knew it was wrong, according to court documents.
But in the summer of 2015, on the day she was expected to enter a guilty plea in court, she changed her mind.
