March 8 USA: Fired U.S. Attorney Accuses Republicans of Exerting Political Pressure New Mexico's former U.S. Attorney accused Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., Tuesday of exerting political pressure on him about an ongoing public-corruption investigation just before Election Day last fall. David Iglesias, who was asked to resign from the Justice Department with at least six other U.S. Attorneys on Dec. 7, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Wilson had telephoned him on Oct. 16, about 3 weeks before the elections, to inquire about the status of "sealed indictments" in a probe involving a Democratic state legislator. When Iglesias told Wilson that he couldn't speak about the existence of sealed indictments, "She was not happy with that answer," he said, and their call ended a short time later. Wilson was then in the middle of a heated re-election campaign against former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid. Wilson won the election over Madrid by fewer than 900 votes. Justice Department guidelines strictly limit what prosecutors can say about ongoing investigations. Nonetheless, two weeks after Wilson's call, Iglesias testified that he received an unusual call from Domenici at his home in late October, just days before the November elections. The senator also wanted to know about the prospect of charges in the public-corruption case. "Are these going to be unsealed by November?" Iglesias said Domenici told him. Iglesias says that after he told Domenici it was unlikely charges would be brought before November, Domenici told him, "I'm very sorry to hear that," and the line went dead. "I felt sick afterwards," Iglesias said. "I felt leaned on." Asked why he did not immediately report the calls from Wilson and Domenici to his superiors at the Justice Department -- as mandated by internal Justice rules -- Iglesias said he felt torn between his loyalties to Domenici, whom he described as a mentor, and to Wilson, whom he said had been a friend. Domenici had supported Iglesias' nomination to become U.S. Attorney in 2001. Iglesias suggested that his firing, given his office's high marks in internal Justice Department performance reviews, may have come as a result of Domenici or Wilson pressuring the White House or Justice to ask for his resignation. "I suspect they felt I was not a help to them during the campaign," Iglesias said. After he was fired, he said, he "began to put the dots together." In response to questions about her call with Iglesias, a spokeswoman for Wilson's office forwarded a statement saying she had contacted Iglesias' office after a constituent complained about the pace of ongoing corruption investigations. "I did not ask about the timing of any indictments, and I did not tell Mr. Iglesias what course of action I thought he should take or pressure him in any way," Wilson says in the statement. "If the purpose of my call has somehow been misperceived, I am sorry for any confusion." Domenici's office did not return a call for this article. But earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that Domenici had complained about Iglesias to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on 3 occasions in 2005 and 2006, and had spoken with Gonzales' top deputy last October. The contacts by Domenici and Wilson could prove problematic. Ethics rules prohibit members of Congress from contacting federal officials involved in ongoing investigations. This week, a left-leaning public interest group asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Domenici's contacts with Iglesias. HOUSE CALL Iglesias recounted his story during morning testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, flanked by 3 other of the fired U.S. attorneys. All of them said that the Justice Department had not informed them why they had been fired. During the afternoon, the same 4 former prosecutors, as well as 2 others that had been asked to resign, were called before a House Judiciary subcommittee. There, they were joined William Moschella, a top Justice Department official, who laid out the department's case for the firings. Moschella, the Justice Department's principal deputy associate attorney general, acknowledged the dismissals were poorly executed. "In hindsight, it could have been handled better," Moschella said. "It would have been much better to address the relevant issues [with each U.S. Attorney] upfront." Moschella said the firings for seven of the U.S. Attorneys were for reasons related to "policy, priorities and management -- what has been broadly stated as performance-related reasons." He also called speculation that the firings were related to political pressure over various public-corruption investigations "dangerous, baseless and irresponsible." After the subcommittee chairwoman, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., asked the 6 testifying former U.S. Attorneys to waive any privacy concerns over the reasons for their firings, Moschella laid out the case against each one. With respect to Carol Lam, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, whose office had won a guilty plea from former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., in a major public-corruption case, Moschella noted a relatively low number of gun and immigration prosecutions. "On immigration, her numbers in a border district just didn't stack up," Moschella said. He added that Lam's office ranked 91 out of 93 districts in gun prosecutions. "These are high administration priorities, and we expect these priorities to be filled," he said. John McKay, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, was criticized for "policy differences." Moschella said McKay spent a considerable amount of time pushing Justice to approve an unspecified system in his office. Moschella told the committee that Daniel Bogden, former U.S. Attorney for Nevada, was simply not doing a good enough job. "There was a general sense in the department about Mr. Bogden, that given the importance of the district in Las Vegas ... we were interested in seeing a new vigor and new energy in the office to take it to a new level," Moschella said. Moschella essentially delivered the same pronouncement about New Mexico's Iglesias, adding that Iglesias had delegated too much authority to his top assistant. "There was a general sense that the district was in need of greater leadership," Moschella said. As for Paul Charlton, former U.S. Attorney for Arizona, had been fired for "policy reasons." Moschella cited Charlton's policy of taping interviews with FBI agents and an ongoing dispute over pursuing the death penalty in a case, an issue Moschella described as "non-delegable." Those 5 attorneys were all asked to resign Dec. 7, along with 2 other prosecutors. Despite Moschella's criticisms, all 5 had received positive evaluations from the Justice Department during periodic performance reviews. H.E. "Bud" Cummins III, U.S. Attorney for Arkansas, also testified at the hearing. Cummins had been asked to resign last summer, and Justice Department officials have said that Cummins' firing was not done for performance reasons, but to clear the position for J. Timothy Griffith, a former political aide to White House adviser Karl Rove. (source: Legal Times) ********************* Hannity Yearns For Death Penalty, Geraldo Longs For Lynching "Pro life" Sean Hannity and the always hyped-up Geraldo Rivera salivated last night on Hannity & Colmes (3/7/07) over the possible death penalty for child-raper and killer John Couey. Actually, the death penalty wasnt enough for Geraldo. He fantasized about stoning and skinning Couey and cutting him up into little pieces. With video. "Christian values" Hannity said, "That guy is evil. I hope he gets the death penalty and rots in hell." Geraldo, overwrought with melodramatic self-importance declared, "The death penalty's really not enough for John Vander You want him to be stoned, you want him to be skinned, you want him to be cut up in little pieces and You want this person to suffer." (source: NewsHounds.com) ARIZONA: Ending jam of capital cases to cost in 'millions' Maricopa County found lawyers on Wednesday for a dozen inmates who face the death penalty. But the emergency and long-term plans to fix the backlog of capital cases could fall apart unless the county supervisors pump money into the public defender system. It could ultimately cost "millions" for the county to bulk up the public defender offices and solve the attorney shortage, several officials said. The county now pays $8.5 million to defend capital cases. "We realize that we are probably going to have to allocate more money," said county Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, adding that she is waiting for a final report on a permanent solution. Some figures, which were not available Wednesday, should be ready before the board's proposed emergency meeting. "We are trying to make sure that as these cases move forward we are treating both sides fairly." Maricopa County has drawn national attention because it's being strained by a record number of death-penalty cases. The county has more pending cases than Los Angeles County, which has more than twice as many residents, and the so-called "death-penalty capital" of Harris County, Texas. There are more than 130 cases in trial or awaiting trial, and the county's 4 indigent defense agencies say that they have run out of attorneys to handle them. Most people who face the death penalty can't afford an attorney, and taxpayers pick up the tab. If the inmates don't have qualified lawyers, prosecutors risk having death sentences overturned, which would mean trying the expensive cases all over again and retraumatizing families of murder victims. Paving way for litigation Several attorneys at Wednesday's hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court, including James Belanger of the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, say the region's crisis may have already paved the way for more litigation because many inmates lacked qualified attorneys for months. Last week, Judge James Keppel gave prosecutors, defense attorneys and county officials 5 days to come up with a plan to fix the defense attorney problem. On Wednesday, the County Manager's Office presented a seven-page plan, which is expected to provide the county with a 60-day supply of death-penalty attorneys. It includes a plan to monitor death cases more closely, study salary increases and to make sure the cases move through the courts more efficiently. Wednesday's hearing revealed few details on the most crucial component: funding. The Public Defender, Legal Advocate and Legal Defender offices "found" lawyers for many of the 12 death-penalty cases by pulling lawyers from other assignments, the heads of the offices said. Now, county leaders must provide specialists for the new defense teams, including investigators and mitigation experts, they said. Long-term planning "We basically robbed Peter to pay Paul," said James Haas, head of the Office of the Public Defender, of the short-term plan. He and representatives of other defense groups are preparing proposals to beef up their capital teams over the long haul. Also being discussed for the long term: - Up to a $17,500 pay raise for prosecutors and public defenders who handle death- penalty cases. - Possibly higher pay for private contract lawyers who defend death cases for the county. - A centralized procurement system to staff death cases with outside lawyers and other experts. "This is an extraordinary amount of capital cases," said Peter Ozanne, the assistant county manager who oversees the public defender system. The solution could cost the county "certainly 7 figures," he added. "I think the citizens of Maricopa County have to decide are they not only in the Sun Belt but if they are going to be in the 'Death Belt,' " said Ozanne, referring to Southern states that hold many executions. "And, if so, there will be more resources needed in the future." As the death-penalty crisis has unfolded, County Attorney Andrew Thomas has been criticized because death-penalty cases have jumped dramatically since he took office. Thomas seeks death in nearly 1/2 of all 1st-degree murder cases, compared with about 30 % for his predecessor. On Wednesday, Thomas acknowledged that his prosecution policy may have played a role in the crisis but stressed that he inherited most of the death-penalty backlog. "There is no need for this office to evaluate its policy," Thomas said. "Regardless, we are going to evaluate these cases individually on the merits and seek justice for these victims, and we are not going to be pressured to do otherwise." (source: Arizona Republic)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----USA, ARIZ.
Rick Halperin Thu, 8 Mar 2007 19:29:17 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
