HOLLIDAYSBURG - A false reports criminal case against a nephew of Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio has been transferred to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.
"In our view, these relationships ... would almost certainly require recusal [of Consiglio]," Judge Hiram A. Carpenter stated in a two-page court order filed Wednesday with the Blair County Prothonotary and Clerk of Court.
The case involves David D. Rainelli, 40, an Army veteran who was arrested in October 2008 for creating a disturbance at the Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona.
Logan Township police were called and Rainelli was taken to the Blair County Prison, where Rainelli alleges that they punched and kicked him, injuring his face, shoulder and legs.
The charges that stemmed from the incident at the VA hospital were disposed of in 2009, with Rainelli's plea to disorderly conduct, public drunkenness and simple assault.
But Rainelli's claims that he was mistreated by police led to more than a year of controversy that eventually resulted in criminal charges being brought against him by state police, who contend Rainelli wasn't telling the truth when he said he was roughed up.
Rainelli's attorney, Glen S. Downey of Pittsburgh, filed a petition in March asking that the charges against his client be dismissed because of the close relationship between Rainelli and his uncle.
Consiglio for years raised Rainelli after his father murdered his mother in the family home in 1975, Downey stated in a petition filed earlier this year.
After his father was released from prison, Rainelli moved with him to State College.
The night before the incident in 2008, Rainelli stayed at Consiglio's home, according to Downey's petition.
Carpenter held a hearing in March in which Downey asked that charges against Rainelli be dismissed because of the apparent conflict of interest.
Carpenter stated in his order that the "frequent and continuous contact" between Consiglio and his nephew over the years required recusal of the Blair DA's office from the case.
Consiglio said Wednesday afternoon "he [Rainelli] was living with me as a kid." He said he doesn't see his nephew as frequently now as he did in the past but sees him "on occasion."
As for the transfer of the case away from Blair County, he said, "I'm not for it or against it." He said his office was prepared to try the Rainelli case.
"We're not going to back down from anything," he said.
Downey was pleased the case has been removed from the Blair DA's office, but he questioned what comes next.
The judge's order seems to indicate that the Attorney General's office should step in and continue the prosecution against Rainelli that is already filed in Blair County, Downey pointed out. He believes the judge should go further and dismiss charges against Rainelli with prejudice, which would mean they could not be refiled.
Downey said he did not believe the Attorney General would simply take over the case already filed, but at the very least should conduct an independent investigation to determine if a prosecution should occur at all.
These questions and options will be discussed at a June 21 status conference with Carpenter, Downey said.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.
