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Orie On Stand For 3rd Day As Trial Winds Down

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The second corruption trial for State Sen. Jane Orie is winding down.

Once again, Orie spent most of the day on the stand as the jury prepares to decide the case by the weekend.

For the third day, State Sen. Orie answered questions on the stand, and for the third day, she stuck to her story that she did not authorize campaign work on state time nor did she forge documents.

In one of many heated exchanges between prosecutor Lawrence Claus and the defendant, Claus pointed to a memo that Orie once sent for the direction of her staff.

Prosecutor: "The memo says, 'Election time is critical to the office. It will require you to work extra hours on evenings and weekends.' What did that mean?"

Orie: "It meant if any of them volunteer, they'd be working longer hours."

The prosecutor pointed out that nowhere in the memo was the word "volunteer" used.

But Orie stuck to her guns that any work done by state staff was done either on their off time or on comp time.

Also, she defended what the prosecution said were notes to staff written long after the date on the document to make it appear she was a stickler for separating state time from campaign time.

Orie, though, said she made the notes on the emails around the time she got them and that she habitually wrote on the margins of emails, envelopes and even receipts.

She was also asked where she got the controversial documents with the signatures of her former chief of staff Jamie Pavlot that a Secret Service examiner says were forged.

She said she got those documents from Pavlot's office filing cabinets.

The judge hopes to begin closing arguments on Thursday.

RELATED LINKS:
State Sen. Jane Orie Testifies During Corruption Trial (3/19/12)
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