Attorneys for suspended state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin are seeking separate trials for the justice and her sister, Janine Orie. Orie Melvin will stand for trial on seven charges alleging that she illegally used her taxpayer-funded Superior Court staff to campaign for a seat on the state Supreme Court in 2003 and 2009. Janine Orie faces charges alleging that she directed campaign work in Orie Melvin’s judicial office and in the office of a third sister, former state Senator Jane Orie.
 
Orie Melvin’s attorney argued that the charges against her are “fundamentally dissimilar” from those filed against her sister. One of Orie Melvin’s attorneys, Dan Brier, claims, “The charges at issue are extraordinarily complex, involve different though closely related persons, cover different time periods and involve contradictory allegations.” Another of her attorneys, Patrick Casey, wrote that “these inconsistent allegations give rise to antagonistic defenses and therefore require separate trials.”
 
Janine Orie previously went to trial in a joint case with her sister Jane Orie. Those cases were severed when the original case ended in a mistrial because prosecutors charged that Jane Orie submitted fraudulent documents to the court. Janine Orie’s trial is scheduled to begin on August 13, but prosecutors have asked for a postponement. A formal arraignment for Orie Melvin is scheduled for Tuesday, August 14.