Department of Injustice

Art Crino
Cliven Bundy

The January 8, 2018 court decision in the Bundy case brings to mind the work of Sidney Powell.

Sidney Powell, a widely respected attorney, became concerned with the conduct of the federal prosecutors. This was based on having spent ten years in the Department of Justice and twenty years in private practice. With the urging and cooperation from numerous attorneys, she published the book, “LICENSE TO LIE, Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice”. The author poses the question: “Did you know you can be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for something that was not even a crime?”

One of the prosecutors cited as an example of excess aggressiveness is Andrew Weissman. He had developed special tactics in prosecutions where he was convinced the end justifies the means. Not surprising, Andrew Weissman is a member of today’s Robert Mueller Special Counsel team –the very lengthy ‘Witch Hunt’ that has concentrated on the Trump administration.

Early in 2001 rumors began to circulate about Enron’s finances. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began a formal investigation into Enron’s dealings. On December 2, 2001 Enron declared bankruptcy, imploding in a wave of accounting scandals, mysterious partnerships, and outright thievery.
The SEC’s inquiry focused on the role of Arthur Andersen LLP, Enron’s longtime auditor and one of the nation’s five big accounting firms. Subsequently a grand jury charged the Arthur Anderson partnership with obstruction of justice, “for destroying literally tons of paper documents related to the Enron inquiries”.Overlooked was the fact that Arthur Andersen had a systematic procedure to destroy certain files as they lost their value. However, the indictment itself was a death sentence for the Company and the 85,000 jobs it provided around the world. Andersen had requested an opportunity to make a presentation to the Enron Grand Jury before it considered the indictment but the Enron Task Force refused. The company was indicted solely on whatever evidence the prosecutors secretly presented to the Grand Jury. Andrew Weissmann was the leader of the Enron Task Force.

The Anderson trial that followed was under the Houston U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon and unfortunately the prosecuting team included Weissmann. The judge did not allow the defense to introduce hundreds of thousands of documents Anderson had retained. The result was a “guilty” verdict by the jury. Fortunately the U.S. Supreme Court heard the cases. It unanimously reversed the U.S. District Court’s decision and the flawed jury instructions rendered by Judge Harmon. And so it confirms Arthur Andersen’s destruction and employment of 85,000 when a crime had not been committed.

The Weismann Enron Task Force turned to the banks that had done business with Enron. Merrill Lynch had done a small fraction of business compared to the main Enron clients. Two of the Merrill Lynch executives, Jim Brown and Dan Bayly voluntarily appeared in front of the Enron Grand Jury. Their status was changed from witnesses to indictment. In their trial they were found guilty with perjury and obstruction of justice. The judge refused to allow Jim Brown free on bail awaiting appeal before the Fifth Circuit Court.

Dan Bayly was sentenced to 30 months and Jim Brown 45 months in federal prison. After they had been in prison for almost a year, the Fifth Circuit Court, made up of three judges, found the indictments were “fatally flawed” and they were released from prison. However, they had spent a year in prison as the result of over-zealous prosecutors and judges that were too lazy to read the material the defense had presented.

In July 2008 a federal grand jury charged U.S. Senator Ted Sevens with corruption. The indictment was issued only four weeks before the primary election in Alaska. The case fell onto the docket of federal Judge Emmet Sullivan. Senator Stevens was indicted on seven counts of making false statements on the forms he was required to file with the senate to report all gifts. According to the government, a prominent builder in Alaska, Bill Allen, had given Senator Stevens numerous “gifts” during the process of remodeling the Senator’s home. They did not indict the Senator for bribery. Rather, as they did in the Enron cases, the prosecution was content to besmirch the Senator with the stench of an offense the government could not prove but obtained a conviction from a jury who would believe it smelled bad, and therefore he must be guilty as charged,. The guilty verdict against Senator Stevens was October 27, 2008 — just one week before the final election. The result was the Senator’s defeat, ending a 40 year Senate career.

In late 2008, FBI agent Chad Joy filed a complaint with the Justice Department of Professional Responsibility. Joy, who had worked on the trial team, said the prosecutors hid evidence. This was followed by a dismissal in Judge Sullivan’s court on April 7, 2009. The former Senator was vindicated.

Because the Justice Department of Professional Responsibility did not act on FBI Chad Joy’s field complaint, Judge Sullivan appointed two very capable nongovernment attorneys. The 500 plus page report by Hank Schuelke and his law partner Shields was released to the public on March 15, 2012.
The report motivated members of the senate to create an enforceable law requiring the prosecution to give the defense all information that is favorable to the accused. The legislation had the support of virtually every major legal body in the country — except one. The Department of Justice vehemently opposes this legislation. The only change in the Department of Justice is for the worse. The solution will have to await the Department of Public Opinion. Unless the federal Department of Justice pursues significant legal penalties against bureaucrats and prosecutors in cases such as the Bundy’s, there is reason to believe these abuses will continue. Guilty verdicts feather the nests of prosecutors!

Art Crino is a combat veteran of WW II, graduate of OSU in Electrical Engineering and his career was in engineering and factory management. Art may be contacted by e-mail at: crino9850@comcast.net
Reprinted with permission from the Roseburg Beacon News, Vol.11 – Issue 3 January 17, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Northwest Connection)

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