Janine Orie, convicted of helping her sisters Joan and Jane use state staffers for their political campaigns, has lost her federal appeal.

Orie, 62, secretary for ex-Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie, was convicted in two state cases based on charges filed in 2010 and 2011.

But her sentence was based only on the 2011 charges, so her federal habeas appeal has no basis, a judge ruled today.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Mitchell recommended in May that the appeal be dismissed because Janine Orie was never in custody on the 2010 conviction, so the U.S. courts don't have jurisdiction. U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak today approved that recommendation.

Janine Orie went on trial a second time in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court after the first trial ended in a mistrial. The district attorney's office added new charges to the case when it put her on trial the second time.

The jury convicted her on charges from both cases and Common Pleas Judge Lester Nauhaus sentenced her to a year of home confinement and probation on the 2011 charges. But he did not impose a penalty for the 2010 charges.

Because the 2011 charges were not the subject of her habeas petition, Judge Hornak dismissed the appeal.

First Published: June 30, 2016, 5:05 p.m.