DA candidate Lisa Middleman to meet with Penn Hills voters

An independent challenger to longtime Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. will hold a meet-and-greet event in Penn Hills on July 13.

Lisa Middleman will be meeting with voters in Penn Hills from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Sichuan Palace, 60 Federal Drive.

Middleman is an Allegheny County public defender and she announced her run for district attorney in June as an independent. She needs to gather at least 3,700 signatures by Aug. 1 to appear on the November ballot.

Zappala won the Democratic primary in May against his first challenger in 20 years, Turahn Jenkins, who resigned from his role as chief deputy director in the Allegheny County Public Defender’s Office in order to launch his campaign in July 2018.

Zappala, 61, of Fox Chapel, garnered 59% of the vote, defeating Jenkins’ 41%.

Middleman, 57, of Franklin Park, will run on a platform aimed at fixing what she has described as a “racist” and “classist” criminal justice system.

She has also criticized the trial of Michael Rosfeld, a former East Pittsburgh police officer acquitted in March of homicide in the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II, describing it as a “conflict of interest.” She has suggested forming an independent investigatory body that would probe instances of alleged police misconduct.

Middleman will hold other meet-and-greet events around the county through July. For a list of dates and places, visit www.lisamiddleman.com/events.