Celebrity coroner on trial today

Pittsburgh pathologist Cyril Wecht gained international fame over the last four decades investigating the deaths of famous people, testifying in the biggest unsolved murder cases, and delivering lively expert commentary for cable news networks.

Today the 76-year-old former Allegheny County coroner will sit in the defendant's seat, facing federal fraud charges for allegedly using county funds and staff to benefit his private forensic pathology practice.

The case itself pales next to others in which Wecht has played a role - and from which he made millions - in his private work, among them the death of Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel, and the killing of Jon Benet Ramsey.

Though there are several scintillating charges against him alleging corpse trading with a local college and the improper storage of human brain tissues, most of the charges brought against Wecht by a grand jury in January 2006 involve more mundane issues: the improper use of fax machines, postage and a county car.

The indictment also alleges that Wecht used county staff as chauffeurs and dog walkers.

In a state case in 1981, a jury acquitted Wecht of similar charges of using public resources for his private practice.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of the Western District of Pennsylvania, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment for this article. In a 2006 news release announcing the indictment, she said:

"Cyril Wecht abused the position, authority and resources of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office to obtain money, property, services, and other items of value for his personal benefit."

In the fall, Wecht's legal defense team went on the offensive, taking his case to Congress.

Richard Thornburgh, the former Pennsylvania governor whose law firm represents Wecht, testified before a House subcommittee that his client was the victim of the Bush administration's attempts to prosecute high-profile Democrats.

Thornburgh, a Republican who was U.S. attorney general in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, said the case was a "most bizarre prosecution of one of Pittsburgh's most colorful, accomplished and brilliant men."

"Assuming the cost of a fax is one dollar, the 'theft' of $24 worth of the office ink and paper over four years is now pyramided to 24 federal felonies," he told the committee, which was investigating allegations of selective prosecution by the Justice Department under former U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

Wecht, reached by phone Friday, declined to comment for this article.

The scientist catapulted onto the national scene more than 40 years ago when he was asked to review the Warren Commission report on the John F. Kennedy assassination. He concluded the "single-bullet theory" - developed by commission member Arlen Specter as a way to explain the lone assassin - was "nonsense."

Despite their opposing stances on one of the most hotly debated murder cases in U.S. history, Specter and Wecht became friends and occasional sparring partners at Kennedy assassination conferences.

"He thought the single-bullet theory was wrong," Sen. Specter (R., Pa.) said last week. "Notwithstanding that, I've got a great deal of respect for him as a forensic pathologist. He is world-renowned."

Wecht, who unsuccessfully challenged John Heinz for his U.S. Senate seat in the early 1980s, served two 10-year terms as the elected Allegheny County coroner before being appointed to the new position of county medical examiner in 2006.

Wecht has long been a fixture on television news and talk shows. He has written books on major murder cases and is still sought out by the families of celebrity victims.

The weight of his impending trial didn't prevent Wecht from appearing on Fox News last week to comment on the death of actor Heath Ledger.

On his Web site, which notes the 14,000 autopsies he has performed and the 30,000 additional cases on which he has served as a consultant, Wecht describes his role as someone who seeks to "uncover the truth and ensure that justice is served."

Now he faces years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Wecht's friends can't believe that someone with such a lucrative business as the "coroner to the stars" would need to engage in petty illegal activity.

"I don't know what he did or didn't do, but he is independently wealthy," said Bill Green, a Pittsburgh political consultant. "I can't believe he would try to extort money. It isn't him."