The attorney representing a Roman Catholic priest charged with lying to a Dauphin County grand jury wants the charge dismissed and is seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate alleged grand jury abuses, according to court documents.Scranton lawyer Sal Cognetti has also filed a motion to disqualify county Judge Todd Hoover from presiding over the Rev. Joseph Sica's preliminary hearing and requested the appointment of a special trial judge from outside Dauphin County.
The flurry of motions forced a postponement of Sica's preliminary hearing, which was scheduled for Friday.
Sica, 52, was arrested Jan. 2 and charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying during his grand jury testimony on Aug. 29, 2007, about his relationship with the late Russell Bufalino, the longtime head of a northeastern Pennsylvania crime family.
Sica is a confidant of Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples, who is the focus of the grand jury investigation. The jurors are trying to determine whether DeNaples lied about his alleged ties to organized crime to gain a slots license.
DeNaples' youngest brother, Eugene, was at the courthouse Wednesday as the grand jury reconvened. Eugene DeNaples, who appeared before the grand jury in December, was flanked by his attorney, J. Alan Johnson of Pittsburgh.
In the newly filed court documents, Cognetti claims that because Hoover presided over Sica's arraignment, his finding that there was enough evidence violated Sica's right to a preliminary hearing, over which Hoover is scheduled to preside.
''Judge Hoover … otherwise ignored the rules of criminal procedure by appointing himself as the issuing authority in this matter,'' Cognetti wrote in his motion this week asking that the Supreme Court appoint a special trial judge.
Fran Chardo, Dauphin County's first assistant district attorney, said he disagrees with the motion but is prepared to prosecute the case with or without Hoover. ''We'll go in front of whatever judge they tell us,'' Chardo said.
In asking for the Supreme Court to appoint a new judge, Cognetti also claims that Hoover, the presiding judge over the grand jury, is biased against Sica.
''As supervising judge to the grand jury and the voluminous information … brought before him in that capacity, Judge Hoover's impartiality can reasonably be questioned since he has personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts and confidential information,'' Cognetti wrote.
Cognetti last week filed a motion to quash the charge against Sica and seek the appointment of a special prosecutor, claiming ''violations and abuses.''
A former assistant U.S. attorney who once prosecuted DeNaples in the 1970s, Cognetti claims the grand jury presentment against Sica was ''fatally defective'' and didn't establish adequate probable cause.
The grand jury is scheduled to hear more testimony today.
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