Public defender is arrested, accused of lying to court staff about his client
A Pennsylvania assistant public defender was arrested Monday night and charged with providing false information to a judge’s staff member about whether his client had appeared for trial in a child sex-assault case.
The client, 44-year-old Jeffrey Derosky, was a no-show for the Jan. 12 trial. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a West Virginia motel room four days later. However, Derosky’s public defender, Andrew Capone, 29, and Derosky’s live-in girlfriend, Karen Blystone, 57, have both been charged with hindering apprehension and obstructing the administration of law in the Allegheny County case, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Both defendants were released after being charged and could not be reached by the newspaper for comment.
Public Defender Elliot Howsie declined to comment when contacted by the Tribune-Review.
While attempting to track down Derosky and serve a bench warrant, law enforcement spoke with his neighbors on Jan. 12. They said they saw him and Blystone leave at about 8 a.m. that day, but only Blystone returned at about 10:15 a.m., the Tribune-Review reports.
The next day, county sheriff’s detectives found Blystone, according to the two newspaper articles. She said she and Derosky had met with Capone at the courthouse on the morning of the scheduled trial and discussed a prosecution plea offer that would have required a five- to 10-year prison stint, which Derosky wasn’t ready to accept, so they left, a sheriff’s detective said in a criminal complaint. Court security footage confirmed her story.
Meanwhile, the judge’s staff said Capone stated that Derosky hadn’t appeared for trial, the complaint alleges.
When he confronting Capone with this information, the detective wrote, Capone said he “was unsure how to answer that question and believe[d] that it would violate attorney-client privilege,” the Post-Gazette reports. The detective also said in the complaint that Capone stated he told the judge’s staff Derosky and Blystone had been present on the trial day but were nowhere to be found when he returned about 10 minutes after leaving the courtroom.
Last updated Feb. 7 with additional copy edits.
