Does the Westmoreland County district attorney offer different deals to people with famous names or bigger bank accounts than to average Joes who end up in the criminal court system?

A recent filing makes that claim.

According to defense attorney Robert Domenick, DA John Peck has shown different standards with Paul Barnhart, 25, in a driving under the influence arrest than with Bill Hillgrove, 79, a Murrysville resident who happens to be the play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh.

While Hillgrove was offered a plea that included accelerated rehabilitative disposition — a diversionary program that allows a subject to have a record expunged after successful completion of probation — a similar opportunity was not afforded to Barnhart.

The problem with this is that every case should be evaluated on its own merit and it is unfair to boil it all down to whose name is recognized by more people and who has more disposable income. Not that it is unfair to Peck, although it very well could be. It is unfair to both Hillgrove and Barnhart.

Let’s start with Hillgrove. His DUI is his case to handle, his challenge to overcome and his burden to bear. Completing ARD isn’t a given. Like any sentence, whether probation or jail time, it has requirements to complete and boxes to tick off. How he was approved for it and how he completes it does not have any bearing on any other defendant’s outcome.

By the same token, Barnhart’s case deserves to be appreciated in its own light, not in the reflected spectacle of another man’s problems. It should also be appreciated that Barnhart’s case is still awaiting trial and thus should he still be presumed innocent.

It should go without saying fame and fortune have no place on the scales of justice. A defendant deserves and should receive a zealous advocate regardless of ability to pay for such a defense, and the people deserve just as committed a prosecution despite the wealth or lack thereof of the suspect.

Every criminal case should be allowed to rest on nothing more than the facts.

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