Former Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas has hired a Pittsburgh-area lawyer, Patrick Nightingale, and is appealing his conviction. Thomas is in jail, and not earning an income to afford his own legal representation, so a motion to appoint Nightingale at $50 an hour to continue representing him was approved. Thomas was sentenced earlier this month to serve at least 27 months in state prison for strangling and assaulting a Windber woman in 2021.