The Honorable John Conyers, Chairman
House Committee on the Judiciary
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Mr. Chairman:
I am writing to bring a very troubling matter to your attention regarding the actions of United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama.
As a result of an investigation into possible corruption in Jefferson County, Alabama, the US Attorney’s office recently indicted and arrested Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford; former Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party William Blount; and former Executive Director of the Alabama Democratic Party Al LaPierre.
Mayor Langford's attorney sent letters to the prosecutors in April and May of 2008 making it clear that if Mayor Langford was in fact indicted, he would voluntarily surrender at a time and place of the US Attorney’s choosing. Mr. Langford was indicted on Monday, December 1 and arrested at his place of employment. The event was only prevented from being a media spectacle by the actions of Birmingham police officers who were serving as Mayor Langford's security detail. These officers interceded with Federal officials, keeping the event from turning into a media circus.
Mr. Blount and Mr. Lapierre voluntarily surrendered only to be arraigned with Mayor Langford in court with all three men forced to appear in shackles. When confronted by the media about the different manner the three defendants were detained, the U.S. Attorney's office said that all three were to be arrested, however no documents were produced to prove this nor to explain the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s inability to locate the two other men even though the FBI had their home addresses and their business addresses.
It is obvious these extreme measures were absolutely unnecessary and show a troubling desire on the part of the U.S. Attorney’s office to maximize the embarrassment and media exposure of its targets. Sadly, this latest spectacle is only the latest example of this office’s unprofessional and irresponsible behavior.
As you know, as a result of your committee's investigation and report in 2007, the U.S. Attorney, Mrs. Alice Martin, was referred by your committee to the Office of Professional Responsibility for investigation due to the office’s actions in the case of Don Siegelman.
The U.S. Attorney’s office indicted Governor Siegelman in 2004 in a case that was dropped for lack of evidence. In that case, Federal Judge U. W. Clemons scrutinized the prosecutions case, and ruled that there was a lack of prima facie evidence to proceed after the prosecution could not produce the witnesses that it had represented to the Court would prove their case.
In that case, Assistant, US Attorney Matt Hart, who is the lead prosecutor on the Langford case, was reprimanded from the bench after attempting to proffer knowingly false testimony from a witness and for leaking information to friendly media outlets even though the Judge had required the documents to be filed under seal.
Doug Jones, former U. S. Attorney for the Northern District, testified before your committee on October 23, 2007, that Matt Hart, then a Alabama Assistant Attorney General, told Doug Jones’s staff that he hoped the Bobo investigation would go to the highest levels of the Siegelman administration. Matt Horn was the Assistant U. S. Attorney in Birmingham that handled the 2004 case that he "hoped" the investigation, that at that time did not involve Don Siegelman, would "lead to Siegelman". Mr. Hart's comment implied that the U. S. Attorney’s office was targeting an individual and not prosecuting crime.
Subsequently, Mr. Hart was referred to the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility for investigation. OPR has not disclosed if there was an investigation or the results of that investigation, but Matt Hart continues to oversee investigations. He is on the Langford prosecution team.
The egregious behavior of this office continued into early 2007 as it was investigating corruption of the Alabama two year college system.
The Governor of Alabama, Bob Riley, announced that he would be aiding the Alabama Republican Party in raising 40 million dollars with the sole goal of winning control of the Alabama legislature. Within forty eight hours of Riley's pronouncement, The U.S. Attorney’s office leaked to the Birmingham News that its investigation into the Alabama two year college system would now include members of the Alabama Legislature.
Following through with the U.S. Attorney’s office pledge to widen its probe to include members of the Alabama legislature the office began targeting the Democratic members of the Alabama Legislature. In violation of state law regarding legal service on members of the legislature, the US Attorney attempted to serve subpoenas on 14 members of the Alabama legislature while their respective bodies were in session even to the point of attempting to have them served on the floor of the legislature. Of the 14 representatives subpoenaed, all were Democrats except two who were widely known to not tow the Republican party line and not in the good graces of Governor Riley. Though it has never been proven there seemed to be more than average media attendance to the legislative session on that day.
The Langford investigation centers on actions taken by members of the Jefferson County Commission from 2003 through 2007. One of those commissioners, Gary White was indicted in May, 2008. White was also a witness in the Siegelman case and played a role in introducing Richard Scrushy to Don Siegelman. According to an affidavit filed by Whites wife, an FBI agent wanted White to change his testimony about that meeting in order to be more damaging to Siegelman at Siegelman's sentencing hearing. After refusing, White reportedly was reminded by the agent that he continued to have this other investigation to be concerned about. White's wife states that her husband told the agent that he would not change his testimony and was not concerned about what would occur in the Jefferson County investigation. A few months later, Gary White was indicted by Alice Martin.
The only member of the commission who has not been indicted, Bettye Fine Collins, is a woman who is a member of the Republican National Committee and serves as Chair of the National Organization of Republican Women. She testified under oath that she took money from John Katopodis, who was receiving funding from the County at the same time she was voting on Mr. Katopodis’ organization funding. The irony is that Commissioner Gary White was indicted for similar actions.
Aside from what I feel is an abundance of evidence that this U.S. Attorney’s office selectively prosecutes individuals with whom it’s employees disagrees politically, it also has a history of gross incompetence and professional negligence.
The most blinding of which is the case of Alex Latifi and his company Axion. Martin targeted Latifi for prosecution and in the process, sought to destroy this man's business and his life, knowing full well that the "facts" they were asserting to the jury and to the judge were in fact NOT TRUE.
The U.S. Attorney’s office sought to destroy this man - not to prosecute a crime. Not only was Mr. Latifi acquitted, but the injustice dealt him was deemed so outrageous by a federal judge, that the case was thrown out, and the judge ordered US Attorney Alice Martin to pay all court costs and all expenses the defendant had to pay in order to prepare his defense.
Mr. Chairman, there is no justification whatsoever for this U. S. Attorney’s office - which is under investigation for professional misconduct, who has knowingly targeted individuals for political purposes, and who knowingly prosecuted an innocent man - to be allowed to remain involved in the Langford case.
Since the American Bar Association’s article “Roach Motel” has stated the DOJ's disciplinary agency has all but disappeared, it is more important that Congress continues to hold the Department of Justice accountable for its employees’ misconduct. The question has to be asked if the Department of Justice is bold enough to engage in misconduct in these types of high profile cases what are they doing in the cases involving ordinary citizens that do not have the money or the resources to combat the power of the Government?
Sincerely,
Tracie Allen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment