Although it upheld his corruption convictions, a state appeals court panel ruled Monday that former House Speaker Bill DeWeese doesn't have to pay $116,668 in restitution to Pennsylvania for the wrongdoing.



The Superior Court decision marks the third time in six months that the state courts have allowed former House power brokers to dodge restitution orders for illegal political shenanigans.



Last month, the same court ruled that former House Speaker John Perzel, a Philadelphia Republican, doesn't have to pay $1 million in restitution to the state for his convictions in the Computergate case.



In November, the state Supreme Court freed former state Rep. Mike Veon, once a Democratic colleague of DeWeese, from having to pay $135,000 in restitution for his convictions for misusing a nonprofit, the Beaver Initiative for Growth, for political gain. The Veon ruling, which also voided Veon's criminal convictions in the BIG case, dictated the outcomes of the restitution disputes in the Perzel and DeWeese cases.



As Senior Judge John L. Musmanno wrote in the DeWeese ruling, the ex-speaker can't be ordered to pay restitution to the state because Pennsylvania can't legally be considered to be a crime victim. That echoes the Supreme Court's finding in the Veon case.



While Monday's ruling will help DeWeese's bank account, it won't revive his political prospects since it leaves intact his convictions for having his staff work on his re-election campaign on the taxpayers' dime.



DeWeese, now 67, failed to convince Musmanno's court that he didn't get a fair trial in 2012 because a Dauphin County judge refused to allow him to present 14 of his intended witnesses. He claimed those people would have testified that he ordered them not to charge the state for any campaign work.



Former County Judge Todd A. Hoover allowed several DeWeese witnesses to testify to that effect, but ruled there was no need for the other 14 to take the witness stand simply to say the same thing.



County Judge William T. Tully, who heard the case on appeal after Hoover's retirement, upheld the witness limitation last year, prompting DeWeese's appeal to the Superior Court. In backing DeWeese's convictions, Musmanno's court agreed with Hoover and Tully that having the 14 witnesses testify wouldn't have altered the outcome of the former Greene County politician's trial.



DeWeese has already completed his 2 1/2- to 5-year prison term on his conspiracy, theft and conflict of interest convictions.