Three sisters found guilty of corruption in their roles as Supreme Court judge, state senator and court aide

A Supreme Court justice, a court aide and a former state senator - all three sisters - were convicted on Thursday of public corruption charges for using state employees in political campaign work.

Justice Joan Orie Melvin and her older sister Janine Orie were convicted of theft-of-service charges and other crimes in Pennsylvania.



Former senator Jane Orie, the youngest of the three siblings, was convicted last year and is serving up to ten years in prison.

Disgrace: State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin leaves the Allegheny County Courthouse on Thursday in Pittsburgh. Melvin was convicted of corrupting the election process in her campaigns

The staunchly Republican, Catholic sisters from a Pittsburgh suburb say the charges were overblown or outright lies whipped up by a Democratic prosecutor.

A sentencing date for Melvin and Janine Orie has not yet been set. A lawyer for Orie said he didn't like the verdict and planned to appeal.

Suspended Justice Joan Orie Melvin was convicted of six of seven campaign corruption charges while her sister Janine was convicted of the six counts she faced.

Jurors said they were unable to reach a decision on one count - a charge of official oppression against Melvin, who was accused of firing her law clerk when she objected to doing political work in 2003.

The sisters were found guilty of theft of services and criminal conspiracy.

Guilty: Court aide Janine Orie was convicted of theft-of-service charges along with her Supreme Court Justice sister today in Pennsylvania

They were charged with conspiring to use Melvin's state-funded judicial staff - and the state-funded staff of third sister, former state senator Jane Orie to campaign for the Supreme Court when Melvin was a Superior Court judge in 2003 and 2009.

The defense had claimed the charges were false while prosecutors claimed that the sisters used their family's 'criminal ties' when they worked together to misuse the staffers and other state resources.

Joan Orie Melvin and Janine Orie have been suspended without pay and the Judicial Conduct Board has disciplinary charges pending against Melvin.

Although Jane Orie was charged as part of the conspiracy, she wasn't on trial. She resigned from office last year and is in prison for her conviction of illegally using staff to work on her own campaigns.

Jailed: Former Pennsylvania state senator Jane Orie was jailed last year for public corruption and is serving up to ten years in prison

She was acquitted of charges that she had those staffers to campaign for Melvin, too.

The sisters, staunch Republicans, have long argued the prosecutions were the result of a political vendetta by Democratic Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr., allegedly because the Ories have opposed the expansion of legalized gambling, an industry in which Zappala's relatives have an interest.