FORMER DISTRICT ATTORNEY RYAN TUTERA FORGED SIGNATURE- JUDGE LESTER G. NAUHAUS REFUSES TO RULE

DISTRICT ATTORNEY FORGED SIGNATURE BUT JUDGE REFUSES TO RULE IN CASE AGAINST HIM

Andre hired attorney Ryan R. Smith, who in turn hired Michelle Dresbold. In a report dated April 28, 2008, Michelle Dresbold, one of the top handwriting experts in the nation specializing in writing analysis, discovered findings that lead to the conclusion that District Attorney Ryan Tutera personally forged the signatures of defendant Andre Jacobs on waiver forms that denied Mr.Jacobs the right to a trial by judge….

In a written report dated April 28, 2008, Ms. Dresbold concluded that the signatures on the waiver forms are “not in agreement with the known signature/writing of Andre Lamont Jacobs on the K1-K4 documents in terms of writing similarities.” Further investigation uncovered  two court documents that were identical to the signatures on the waiver forms. Their known author? Ryan Tutera.

District Attorney Ryan Tutera forged Andre Jacobs’ signatures on several court documents. For years now, Judge Lester G. Nauhaus has been refusing to formally address the issue of former; this case stems from an escape attempt from the Allegheny County Jail on January 12, 2006 by Frank Seretich, who fell 16 stories to his death. Guards who made the escape possible were suspended but not fired and Andre Jacobs was hung as the responsible party and sentenced to approximately 10 years in prison.

District Attorney Ryan Tutera had previously attempted to prosecute Andre on five different occasions but two separate juries acquitted him of all charges and the other cases fell apart when Andre insisted on public trials or discovery evidence later revealed that significant details were left out of charging papers.

During the jury selection process in the trial involving Mr. Seretich’s escape attempt, Mr. Tutera presented Andre with waiver forms  and asked him to sign them. Signing the waivers would have consented to a jury being selected without a judge in the courtroom or a stenographer present to create a record. Having already openly expressed suspicions about the proceedings, Andre refused to sign and struck a line through the signature line at the top of the page. Andre also demanded to speak to the judge and that demand is reflected in court transcripts because Andre’s court appointed attorney Lisa Phillips and Mr. Tutera stopped proceedings to visit Judge Nauhaus’ courtroom.

In appeals, Andre alleged that Mr. Tutera impaneled a biased jury he knew would convict and because trust and communication had broken between Ande and Ms. Phillips, there was no resistance. In the course of the appeal, Andre happened upon the papers Mr. Tutera previously presented for him to sign and noticed that someone had forged his name. At a hearing on the issue, Ms. Phillips adamantly denied doing so but because attorney Scott Coffey failed and refused to place examples of Andre’s writing on record or to compare the forgeries to the writings of others who were at the table during jury selection, Judge Nauhaus rejected the claim; adding how absurd he thought the claim was. The Commonwealth admitted in writing that, if Andre did not sign the waivers he would without  question be entitled to a new trial.

On June 24, 2019, attorney Ryan R. Smith filed a Post-Conviction petition concerning the forged signatures and the court accepted it. Because Andre was being transported between various facilities around that time, there were difficulties with having him transported back to Allegheny County for court. Immediately afterwards, COVID-19 hit and made that process impossible. However, Andre has been released from prison for eight months now and has more than available for a public hearing on this matter. But Judge Nauhaus refuses to make a ruling.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO BRING JUSTICE TO ANDRE JACOBS AND PREVENT RYAN TUTERA FROM COMMITTING FORGERY AGAINST ANY MORE PEOPLE. Judge Nauhaus needs to know this is unacceptable and he must making a ruling to eradicate this injustice.