Dec 11, 2014 2 min read

PITTSBURGH – Former Republican state Sen. Jane Orie agreed to be disbarred as a result of her conviction on campaign corruption charges, which also led to her resignation from office.

According to documents filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Orie submitted the resignation of her law license Oct. 28. That resignation was accepted Wednesday by the Supreme Court.

In her resignation, Orie acknowledged she is the subject of a complaint pending before the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. That stemmed from her 2012 conviction on charges she had her state-paid staff work on her political campaigns on state time and submitted forged documents to defend herself at her first trial in 2011 on the illegal campaigning charges, which ended in a mistrial.

Orie issued a statement in September saying she would appeal her conviction in the federal courts after the state Superior and Supreme courts rejected her appeals. But dockets for federal courts that cover Pennsylvania show no appeal or notice of appeal has been filed.

On Thursday, Orie told the Associated Press she still planned a habeas corpus appeal in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. “It should be filed shortly,” she said in an email.

Her defense attorney, William Costopoulos, did not return calls and an email seeking comment.

Orie, 53, of Allison Park, was sentenced to 2½ to 10 years in prison. She was released from prison in February after completing 75 percent of her minimum sentence because she’s a nonviolent offender deemed unlikely to commit future crimes.

Costopoulos previously told the Associated Press a federal appeal still mattered to Orie because “it would go a long way to restoring something that is very important to her – her reputation.”

Orie’s disbarment is retroactive to May 7, 2012, when the Supreme Court first suspended her law license following her conviction but before she was sentenced.