Bob Regola

==Background==
* member of PA Senate in 2006
==Links==
===Media===
* Investigation continues in boy's death with lawmaker's gun, July 25, 2006, by Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, GREENSBURG -- It could take weeks to determine how and why a Westmoreland County teen was killed with a pistol that belonged to his neighbor, state Sen. Bob Regola of Hempfield.
===The Regola warrants: Secrets of the state===
Friday, October 13, 2006
Just as the search warrants executed for the home of
state Sen. Bob Regola, R-39, were about to be
unsealed, the government snatched away the public's
clear right to access.
Why? A judge found no reason whatsoever to keep the
warrants sealed. Is the public's right to know so
arbitrary? Or is there a separate legal standard when
a state senator is involved?
The case involves the July 22 death of Louis Farrell,
14. He was killed with a gun owned by Mr. Regola, who
lives next door in Westmoreland County's Hempfield
Township. Details are few; authorities have not said
whether the young man's death was an accident, a
suicide or a homicide.
Warrants issued for an August search of Regola's home
should have become public when they were served;
that's the way it's usually done. But that didn't
happen. Last month the Trib filed motions to unseal
the warrants.
In a commonsense analysis, Common Pleas Judge Rita
Hathaway found there would be no jeopardy to anyone if
the warrants were unsealed. Moreover, "it is not
enough for the commonwealth merely to generally assert
that an investigation is ongoing and may be
compromised ... ."
Nevertheless the judge ordered the warrants to remain
sealed so Westmoreland County District Attorney John
Peck could appeal to Superior Court. And failing that,
to the state Supreme Court.
It's a process that could indefinitely keep under
wraps what by law is supposed to be public
information. And as one court already has ruled,
there's no reason for such state secrecy.
Regola