Dec 21, 2012 1 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Attorneys for suspended state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin want prospective jurors to be asked about any media reports they’ve seen before she goes on trial for campaign corruption charges next month.

Such motions are commonplace in higher-profile cases like Melvin’s.

The 56-year-old Pittsburgh-area jurist is scheduled for trial Jan. 23 on charges that she illegally used her state-paid staff to run her election campaigns for the state’s highest court when she was a judge on the Superior Court, a lower appellate court.

Melvin’s attorneys also want possible jurors to be asked if they’ve ever worked in a government officer or on political campaigns, among other questions.

Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus has not ruled on the motion.