AG to prosecute abuse case against DA’s boyfriend
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The state attorney general’s office will handle the domestic violence case against the boyfriend of an assistant Allegheny County prosecutor who’s handling the homicide trial of a medical researcher accused of poisoning his physician wife with cyanide.
Pittsburgh police say 48-year-old Raymond Burg II refused to let Assistant District Attorney Lisa Pellegrini out of his car and slammed her head into the car’s dashboard Oct. 17.
Defense attorney Sumner Parker wouldn’t address the charges, but says it was proper for District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. to ask state prosecutors to take over the case. Parker says that will help ensure that Burg is treated no differently just because his alleged victim is a prosecutor.
Pellegrini is prosecuting Dr. Robert Ferrante, who went on trial Thursday on charges he poisoned his neurologist wife in April 2013.