HOLLIDAYSBURG — A former Blair County attorney slated to stand trial in two criminal cases is seeking to prevent testimony from two judges in one case and a reduction in the felony grading in the other.

In the first case, Michael B. Cohen, 42, is facing a felony charge of tampering with public records and misdemeanor charges of hindering apprehension or destroying evidence, tampering with or fabricating evidence and obstructing law.

Criminal charges against Cohen indicate that he attempted to get a client’s charges dismissed by Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones with a court order amending a protection-from-abuse order — and allowing his client to be at the residence — effective March 14. Further investigation revealed Cohen secured the order, signed by Judge Ilissa Zimmerman, on March 15.

In court documents filed Oct. 22, defense attorney Daniel Kiss made motions to prevent Jones’ testimony, saying the Blair County District Attorney’s Office intended to question Jones on the circumstances surrounding the preliminary arraignment over which he presided.

Kiss said the DA’s office also intended to “explore Jones’s thought process regarding the arraignment.”

In arguing for the prevention, Kiss said that type of testimony “is specifically prohibited by law” and “nearly this exact issue was recently decided upon by the Superior Court.”

He similarly asked for the exclusion of testimony by Zimmerman, citing the same case law he used in asking for the prevention of Jones’ testimony.

In his second case, Cohen faces felony charges of theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds for allegedly costing a client their home.

The victim reported only noticing the mortgage was not being paid when the mortgage company notified him of the missed payments and possible home foreclosure.

Court documents state the victim built his home between 2004-05 with an initial loan of $278,000. The property had since been assessed at about $444,800.

After sending Cohen mortgage payments to deposit on their behalf since 2018, the victim and his wife received paperwork in early 2023 that their house was going to be a part of a sheriff’s sale.

The victims are requesting total restitution of $564,700, according to the affidavit.

In separate court documents, Kiss filed a motion requesting the Blair County Court of Common Pleas to regrade both of Cohen’s first-degree felony charges to second-degree felonies.

Kiss stated the grading of Cohen’s charges as first degree felonies is “wholly dependent upon the value of the alleged theft” and that the DA’s office alleges Cohen didn’t properly deposit about $110,000 of the victim’s money. He said if these accusations are true and that is the only amount Cohen didn’t deposit, then the felonies can’t be first degree as first degree felonies require thefts of greater than $500,000.

“The Commonwealth has conflated the alleged loss of the house with what was allegedly not properly disposed of,” Kiss wrote. “While it is a potential restitution claim, the loss of the house is not the value that was allegedly not properly disposed of.”

Cohen’s jury selections scheduled Nov. 10 were cancelled, with hearings on the motions scheduled for Dec. 12 in front of Senior Judge Pamela A. Reust. Cohen remains free on unsecured bail.

Cohen is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 12 in front of Reust in a third Blair County case. In that case, he faced two felony charges of forgery and misdemeanor charges of tampering with records, tampering with public records and obstructing law enforcement or other government functions. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of forgery in exchange for the other charges to be dismissed. He left sentencing open to the court.

In the case, Cohen created a fake custody order that prompted a child’s mother to assume primary custody and transport the child from Fayette County to Blair County in December 2022. The child’s father had primary custody while the mother had limited rights for transporting the child to Blair County based on the existing custody order.

The child’s father, who expected to exchange custody with the child’s mother on Jan. 1, initially went to police, then filed a petition with the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas, accusing the mother of violating custody arrangements.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.