Allegheny County assistant district attorney in critical condition with covid-19

Megan Guza
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 10:35 a.m. | Tuesday, July 14, 2020 10:35 a.m.

Go Ad-Free Today!

Tribune-Review

Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh.

An Allegheny County assistant district attorney remained in critical condition Tuesday, a week after he was hospitalized with covid-19, his family’s attorney said.

Russ Broman, 65, is not on a ventilator but family attorney Lawrence Bolind told Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV that “it could be a possibility.”

Mike Manko, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, called Broman a valuable employee who has “served to mentor many younger prosecutors.”

“We are concerned for him and his family during this time,” he said.

Bolind told the TV station Broman thinks he was exposed to the virus June 30 while at the Allegheny County Courthouse. He went to the hospital July 7.

“His family and friends are doing all they can do to help,” Bolind told WPXI. “His fever has broken. He’s not on a ventilator as of yet, but it could be a possibility. I’m hoping he doesn’t have to do that.”

The District Attorney’s Office and President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark have confirmed a number of cases among attorneys and court employees. They include:

• Two of the people who tested positive work in the courthouse. They tested positive on June 25 and July 2.
• One works in the City-County Building and tested positive July 4.
• One works in pretrial services and tested positive June 30.
• One works in the family division and tested positive June 30. This employee was working from home.
• One worked at Judge Anthony DeLuca’s Penn Hills office and tested positive July 5.
• A Pittsburgh Municipal Court employee who tested positive July 5.
• An employee in the probation office tested positive June 30.

Clark, in light of the infections, put some restrictions on in-person hearings through Friday. She pushed for attorneys in the District Attorney’s office and defense counsel alike to use videoconferencing whenever possible.

“This may be our ‘new normal’ in that it is unclear how this pandemic will develop,” she said in a July 7 email. “A very large portion of criminal cases are pleas which can easily be done remotely.”