A Lehigh County judge on Thursday rejected a request from the district attorney’s office to bypass preliminary hearings for 10 defendants charged by a grand jury with drug crimes — among them Zachary Cole-Borghi, a Lehigh County commissioner.
Preliminary hearings are a defendant’s first opportunity to challenge evidence. They are typically held before a district judge, who determines whether the evidence is sufficient to send the case to common pleas court. Hearings can be bypassed if exceptional circumstances make it necessary.
At a hearing before Judge Thomas M. Caffery, Chief Deputy District Attorney Craig Scheetz argued that holding the combined hearing for the defendants — scheduled for Friday morning at the courthouse — would be logistically demanding because of the amount of evidence and complexity of the case.
The investigating grand jury, for example, was presented with 2,691 items of evidence in 130 exhibits over the course of its three-year empanelment, Scheetz noted.
One of the witnesses Scheetz called — Chadbourne Ellis, a South Whitehall Police Department detective and member of the Lehigh County Drug Task Force — estimated it would take two weeks of daylong testimony to present all the evidence, based on the amount of time he spent testifying to the grand jury.
Of the 41 defendants charged, 27 agreed to bypass their hearings, but Cole-Borghi and the other nine defendants in Caffrey’s courtroom insisted on having them, arguing their due process rights have been violated by delays in the case. While Cole-Borghi and two other defendants are free on bail, the rest have been behind bars since their arrests at the end of August.
“We have a right to have a preliminary hearing to test the evidence,” said Cole-Borghi’s attorney, Gary Asteak, offering the common argument of all the attorneys.
Scheetz said the defendants weren’t being asked to forgo their right to challenge the evidence. He said they could do so with individual habeas corpus hearings before a county judge. In such hearings, judges are asked to review the legality of a defendant’s confinement.
Cole-Borghi, of Bethlehem, who has been a commissioner since 2021 and was reelected in November, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute a pound of marijuana.
Unlike other defendants, he was not charged with being part of a corrupt organization — a fact that warranted separating his case from the others and holding what would likely be a relatively brief preliminary hearing, Asteak argued.
“I don’t know why I’m at this party,” said Asteak, referring to the half-dozen attorneys surrounding him.
After about two hours, Caffrey rejected Scheetz’s motion.
“While I believe that holding a preliminary hearing will present difficulties, at the same time I don’t see the exceptional circumstances and deny the prosecution’s motion,” he said. He also rejected Asteak’s attempt to separate Cole-Borghi’s case from the others.
Few details about the investigation have been available because documents remain sealed. Cole-Borghi — who was arrested at Bethlehem City Hall, where he worked as the city’s right-to-know officer — was the only defendant publicly named by authorities. The district attorney’s office said that was to dispel rumors that he played a substantial role in the operation.
In December, after months without knowing the specifics of the cases against them, the defendants were given the documents explaining the charges. They were ordered not to disclose the details, which remain off-limits to the public.
The Morning Call and other Lehigh Valley media outlets have asked a judge to unseal the charging documents. A hearing on that motion is also scheduled for Friday, though many details in the documents are likely to emerge during the hearings.