PHILADELPHIA, April 15 (UPI) -- A former Philadelphia funeral director in prison for selling human remains illegally will not have to pay the cost of his prosecution, an appeals court says.
A Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling released Wednesday vacated an order that Gerald Garzone pay $84,723, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. The penalty, part of Garzone's sentence, was to have gone to reimburse the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office for the cost of investigating the body parts scheme.
Garzone and his brother Louis were charged with selling human tissue from bodies entrusted to them for burial or cremation to Michael Mastromarino, an oral surgeon and owner of Human Tissue Services Inc., a company based in Fort Lee, N.J.
After pleading guilty in 2008, Garzone was sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison. He has paid $144,000 in fines and restitution to the families of the dead he violated.
His lawyer, William J. Brennan, said Garzone did not pay any money to the district attorney because he was confident of victory in his appeal. Louis Garzone has filed a similar appeal.
