PITTSBURGH — A forensic accountant Wednesday testified that state Sen. Jane Orie likely saved herself more than $341,000 by using her state-paid staff to work on campaigns instead of paying for a campaign staff out of pocket.

Jurors in the ongoing political corruption trial have for weeks listened to repetitive testimony from more than two dozen former Orie staffers.

Those jurors also have analyzed hundreds of pieces of evidence projected onto a large screen in the courtroom as well as listened to fiery arguments by lawyers on both sides of the aisle.

But for the first time in the trial, which entered its third week on Wednesday, the jurors got their first glimpse of the alleged monetary theft done to state taxpayers and the alleged monetary gains by Orie.

Jackie Weibel, a forensic accountant with the Allegheny County District Attorney's office, took the stand and presented her findings, which were largely accumulated as she sat in the back of the courtroom throughout the trial and documented how much time each staffer said he or she engaged in political activity.

During a time spanning from 2001 to 2009, Weibel said Orie likely saved $341,000 by using her legislative staff for campaign tasks.

In addition, the forensic accountant said state taxpayers were likely taken for about $34,000 in theft of services because staffers were being paid by the state while allegedly working on political activity.

Those numbers are extremely conservative, Weibel said, and were calculated using the lowest possible estimates from staffers. She also used their salaries and amount of compensatory time taken to calculate the monetary losses and gains.

“These numbers are extremely conservative in my opinion,” Weibel said.

“They represent the lowest amount possible and are likely much higher.”

She also said she gave Orie “every benefit of doubt” when calculating her figures. She was expected to be cross-examined by defense attorney William Costopoulos this morning.

Before Weibel's testimony, the jury heard from several former staffers who said they worked on political tasks in the office at Orie's behest.

Bonnie Shultz worked in Orie's Harrisburg office for four years and testified that in 2010, the state senator showed up in her office with about 30 large plastic bins full of memos, e-mails and other documents that were going to be used in her defense for her first trial.

That trial ended prematurely in March last year when prosecutors discovered forged evidence submitted by Orie. She faces 26 felony charges in the current trial, including theft of service, forgery and perjury.

Shultz testified Wednesday that even though Orie was already indicted and about to face trial, she directed her staff in Harrisburg to scan thousands of pieces of evidence that would be used in her legal defense.

She, along with another former staffer, on occasion even drove the materials to Costopoulos' office outside of Harrisburg.

And in another instance, Shultz testified that she met Orie on the Pennsylvania Turnpike halfway between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh to exchange more plastic bins full of evidence.

She maintained throughout her testimony that she didn't regularly engage in political work. On cross-examination, Costopoulos asked Shultz if she ever did anything “improper” in the office at the direction of Orie.

“I don't believe so,” she said after a long pause.

Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Claus didn't put much faith in that statement and reminded Shultz of testimony she gave to a grand jury in 2010, a grand jury that eventually levied the first charges against Orie.

Claus said that in that testimony, the former staffer told the grand jury that she never engaged in any kind of political work on state time and that she hadn't heard of any other staffer doing so either.

“Was that the truth?” Claus asked Wednesday.

“Obviously not,” Shultz replied.

The prosecution is expected to close its case today, at which point Costopoulos will begin his defense portion of the trial. The proceeding is expected to last until at least the end of next week.