WESTMORELAND COUNTY DA SEATS FIRST GRAND JURY IN OVER THREE DECADES

The Westmoreland County’s District Attorney has seated the county’s first grand jury in over three decades to hear evidence in unsolved homicides. The Trib reports that the grand jury is intended to be a tool to compel witnesses to produce evidence and testify under oath when normal investigatory techniques have proven unsuccessful. Court sources confirmed that 23 grand jurors and 15 alternates were selected for the panel over the last two days. The grand jury, which is being presided over by Common Pleas Court Senior Judge Rita Hathaway, is expected to meet once or twice each month for about 18 months. The last grand jury convened in the county was in the late 1980s to investigate suspected ticket-fixing allegations leveled against the North Huntingdon police department.