Lashing out at prosecutors, lawyers for disgraced former Probation Department head John O’Brien asked a federal judge to order the US attorney’s office to turn over evidence in his criminal case, saying prosecutors have refused to do so even when materials could clear him of any wrongdoing.
In a sharply worded, 29-page court motion, defense lawyers also severely took issue with the nature of the charges against O’Brien and two top deputies, who are accused of racketeering for rigging the department’s hiring process to curry favor with legislators.
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It was easy at the start to generally believe charges of rampant corroption in the state Probation Department under John O'Brien's allegedly overly political employment agency. It seemed to evolve into a triple-event corroption status for the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick, the other two legs being the purported illegal hindering prosecution of drug cases by a state chemist and the possibility that a prescription drug making company has caused the meningitis deaths of 40 persons or more around the nation.
But now comes this accusation by defense lawyers that prosecutors are failing to provide evidence that may exoner ate O'Brien and co-defendants. This is the latest charge that the U.S. Attorney office led by Carmen Ortiz is acting in ways beyond its charter. Thre is no question that, at the very least, these defense lawyer charges cast a bit of legal fog over the O'Brien case, at the very most that they will make it difficult to seat a jury with members able to judge fairly.
If not for the cases involving the suicide of a computer hacker bent on making expensive academic documents free to the public and a federal judge's refusal to let federal law enforcement seize a Tewksbury motel in a purported drug case, this O'Brien defense attorneys' charges of prosecutors' refusal to cooperate as required might be deemed naught but a defense tactic. Maybe it is just that, but the Swartz and Caswell cases certainly give reason for the public to take a skeptical view of who knows how many of the cases being handled by Ms. Ortiz' staff.
What ever happened to that petition to the White House for action on Ms. Ortiz' position, which reportedly carried 40,000 signatures and which disappeared even as the White House raised the number of required signatures on such petitions to 100,000?
My speculation: That petition was dead on arrival.
Another petition is now circulating. The synopsis is:
"As this nation’s ultimate Protector of the Peace, the President is authorized to investigate any harm- foreign and domestic- to our system of law. The corruption of legal ethics and its oversight has resulted in wholesale Crimes Against US Families- at all levels of Federal Courts, Bankruptcy and State, Family, Probate, Criminal, local courts and in Law Enforcement.
We must address widespread Fraud Upon the Court, Judicial and Prosecutorial Misconduct, Immunity and legal-related elections. Every citizen- including respected judges, lawyers and federal/state/local government workers- deserve Due Process and a System of Law that is void of fraud, manipulation, cover-up and corruption. Oversight is non-existent, as it is now corrupted. Please help us restore our faith in our government."
However, this petition, too, will be dead on arrival.
dougkinan@yahoo.com
[O'Brien's] lawyers also took issue with prosecutors’ refusal to surrender information because it is immaterial to the case, saying, “The government cannot be the sole arbiter of relevance or materiality.”
Apparently, the defense lawyers for Mr. O'Brien don't know the "rules." The prosecutor's office can be the sole arbiter of relevance or materiality. Certain prosecutor's working with certain judges do things you wouldn't believe.
dougkinan@yahoo.com