Orie sisters ordered to face trial
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Members of the Orie family outside the Allegheny County Courthouse. From left, brother Jack Orie, Janine Orie, Sen. Jane Clare Orie, and Jack's son, Matt Orie.
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State Sen. Jane Clare Orie and her sister state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin turned to a clairvoyant to foretell the outcome of their effort to head off a grand jury investigation that ultimately snared the senator.
Five months later, the grand jury issued a 66-page presentment saying Ms. Orie and another sister, Janine Orie, an aide to Justice Melvin, assigned state employees to work on Justice Melvin's campaign.
On Wednesday, Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel ordered Jane and Janine Orie held for trial after a 21/2-day preliminary hearing. The charges are conspiracy, theft of services and ethics violations.
The other-worldly interlude involving spirits occurred in November of last year. An account of the incident is tucked deep inside a collection of affidavits entered as evidence in the case against Ms. Orie.
The "angel lady," as she was referred to in several spots, was consulted for advice about the outcome of a meeting between Robert Kramm, described by prosecutors as a political consultant with the Laborers' District Council of Western Pennsylvania, and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., whose office continues to investigate the Orie sisters.
According to sources close to the case, the sisters sought advice from Carolann Sano of Philadelphia, a self-described "clairaudient," who says she can channel messages from spirit guides -- she refers to them as angels. Ms. Sano says that when she receives a question from a client, she speaks it aloud and hears the answer whispered into her right ear.
Several e-mails, which investigators believe were dated Nov. 20, discussed one of the sisters' consultation with the "angel lady" about what decision Mr. Zappala would make after his meeting with Mr. Kramm.
At that meeting, prosecutors said in other documents, Mr. Kramm purportedly said the sisters had informed him that they planned to launch an all-out attack on Mr. Zappala and his family's political connections. He also said the sisters would publicly accuse prosecutor Lawrence Claus of being biased because Jane Orie had arranged for him to be fired from another job with the state attorney general's office.
First Published July 22, 2010 12:00 am
