Former Speaker of the House Bill DeWeese today avoided testimony in the corruption trial of his onetime right-hand man, former state Rep. Mike Veon, by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, sources said.

Mr. DeWeese, a Democrat from Waynesburg, Greene County, is also former Democratic floor leader. He emerged from a meeting in the chambers of Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Lewis and left the courthouse without comment.

Lawyers for the prosecution and defense in the Bonusgate case declined to describe the conversation inside Judge Lewis's chambers, but Mr. DeWeese's attorney, William Costopoulos, later confirmed that his client would not testify.

Mr. DeWeese is currently facing criminal charges in an investigation growing out of the same payroll bonus scandal that resulted in criminal counts against two dozen state officials and legislative staff. Mr. Veon faces multiple corruption counts growing out of the probe.

Mr. DeWeese was charged late last year with using legislative aides and state resources for his re-election efforts.

"I can tell you that Rep. Bill DeWeese is not on trial. This is not his fight. I can also tell you that Bill DeWeese is not going to testify either for the commonwealth or the defense in this case and that has been my position from day one," Mr. Costopoulos said.

Lawyers for Mr. Veon and his co-defendants had wanted to call Mr. DeWeese as a witness, hoping to establish that he was culpable and knowledgeable about the $1.4 million of bonuses prosecutors say were paid from taxpayer funds to reward staff who worked on Democratic election campaigns in 2004 and 2006.

Mr. DeWeese has said that he cooperated throughout the attorney general's investigation and his supporters expressed anger that he was later charged in an unrelated matter they contend was relatively minor.

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