HARRISBURG -- Former state Rep. Sean Ramaley scored a small victory today in a criminal case stemming from campaign work he allegedly did while a legislative aide in 2004.

Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Lewis agreed to hear Mr. Ramaley's case separately from that of 11 other defendants in the so-called "bonusgate" corruption case.

He will not, however, separately hear cases of four other defendants who requested to be tried individually.

And he is considering whether to allow other defendants to call witnesses to attempt to prove their argument that the attorney general is engaging in selective prosecution.

The other defendants are accused of using state resources, including taxpayer-funded bonuses, to pay for work on political campaigns for Democratic incumbents in 2004 and 2006.

Mr. Ramaley's charges are not related to bonuses but to work he allegedly did on his own campaign during four months when he worked as a legislative aide to former state Rep. Mike Veon in Beaver Falls.

The others requesting to have their cases severed were former aides Brett Cott, Steve Keefer, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink and Earl Mosley.

Defense attorneys argued that they did as they were told and were not empowered to authorize bonuses or direct campaign work.

Judge Lewis, though, ruled in favor of prosecutor Anthony Krastek, who argued that they were intimately involved in the alleged scheme to distribute bonuses based on campaign work.

"They were all involved in this and really at the heart of the conspiracy. They had as much to do with this as anybody," argued Mr. Krastek, senior deputy attorney general. "They were all involved. Without them, it doesn't happen."

Judge Lewis plans to take a day or two to decide whether defendants can call 46 witnesses to testify at a hearing.

After two hours of arguments from a cadre of lawyers, Mr. Lewis said this morning that he would need some time.

"I'll try to get that resolved in the next day or two, certainly by the end of the week," he said.

Defense attorneys spent the morning arguing that the witnesses they expect to call can help prove that Attorney General Tom Corbett singled out 12 people for prosecution even though many others engaged in the same conduct but were not charged.

Prosecutors, as well as attorneys for the Republican and Democratic House caucuses, want the subpoenas quashed.