HARRISBURG — The man who was the top-ranking Democrat in the state House of Representatives until a little more than a year ago will not be testifying in the Harrisburg public-corruption trial, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Attorney Bill Costopoulos declined to say whether Rep. Bill DeWeese had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — only that DeWeese will not be a witness in the theft, conspiracy and conflict-of-interest trial of three former legislative aides and Mike Veon, the No. 2 ranking leader until late 2006.

"Rep. DeWeese is not on trial, this is not his fight," Costopoulos said.

DeWeese was himself charged in December as a result of the same investigation. Prosecutors allege he kept an employee on his state-paid staff to raise campaign donations, and that on state time his underlings circulated nominating petitions, sent out campaign mailings, organized campaign events and canvassed door to door.

DeWeese, a Greene County representative, is a former House speaker and was Democratic leader until November 2008.

His name has arisen repeatedly during the trial of Veon and the others. Bryan Walk, attorney for defendant Brett Cott, said DeWeese had been at the top of the defense's witness wish list.

"We would prefer to have the people we want to call as witnesses, but certain things are out of our control," Walk said.

DeWeese's preliminary hearing is slated for mid-May, but Costopoulos said he planned to seek a postponement until after that month's primary election. DeWeese is seeking re-election and faces challengers in both the primary and general elections.

The defense finished its second day of putting on its case Tuesday following five weeks of testimony by prosecution witnesses.

Jurors heard more about the House's complicated and inconsistent methods of tracking how much leave employees earn. The mechanics of the leave tracking system are important to the case because of accusations that taxpayer-paid employees worked on political campaigns without taking vacation or comp time to do it.

The defense also called character witnesses, an expert in computer forensics and a former Veon legislative aide, Nancy Thompson, who was the second defense witness in two days to say they felt intimidated by prosecutors when meeting with them earlier in the investigation.

Veon, Cott, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink and Steve Keefer are accused of diverting public resources and employees of the General Assembly to be used for political campaign purposes. They and DeWeese are among 25 people connected to the state House arrested since the attorney general's office began investigating the awarding of millions in bonuses to legislative aides in early 2007.