-Caveat Lector- [This x-post begins with some relevant questions by a member of another list. --MS] --begin forward-- There's a legal finesse-point or two that I don't pretend to understand here. Tripp maintains she didn't know that what she was doing was not protected (Maryland's law, from what I've read, immunizes those who don't comprehend the illegality of recording). Today's testimony clarifies this not at all. If she were counseled that the "grant of immunity... would make it difficult for any state prosecutor to use her recorded conversations as evidence in a criminal proceeding", then it would sensibly seem to be a get-out-of-jail-free card for Tripp. Bennett testified, "[We made] the task (of state prosecution) insurmountable." Certainly this testimony would argue *against* the hysteric "Hung Out To Dry!" headline on Drudge. Unless I'm missing something. Secondly, Tripp's recording always (as far as I know) crossed State lines and would therefore seem to be a Federal issue, over which Starr's office's immunity grant would seem to be unequivocal. Could somebody please explain why this isn't a slam-dunk for Tripp? --Scott J. From: http://news.excite.com/news/r/991213/14/clinton-scandal-tripp Starr staffers say Tripp not guaranteed protection Updated 2:20 PM ET December 13, 1999 By David Morgan ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (Reuters) - Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky led to President Clinton's impeachment, was never guaranteed protection against state charges she violated Maryland's wiretap laws, an independent counsel's office lawyer said Monday. Investigators from the office of former independent counsel Kenneth Starr instead offered the former White House secretary a grant of immunity that they believed would make it difficult for any state prosecutor to use her recorded conversations as evidence in a criminal proceeding. "We told her the state of Maryland was a separate sovereign (from the federal government) and that they may ultimately be able to return an indictment against her," Stephen Binhak, a federal prosecutor attached to Starr's office, testified at the start of a hearing in Howard County Circuit Court that will determine whether Tripp should be tried on two criminal counts of violating the Maryland wiretap statute. Jackie Bennett, the Starr deputy who signed Tripp's immunity letter, said, "What we could do, and intended to so, and did do, was to make the task (of state prosecution) insurmountable." Tripp secretly taped more than 20 conversations in which Lewinsky discussed her illicit affair with Clinton. Some were taped from Tripp's Maryland home, violating the state law that makes it a crime to record telephone conversations unless all parties consent to it. The best form of protection Tripp could hope for, Binhak said, was a grant of federal immunity "that would make it extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible for the state of Maryland to use those tapes in the prosecution of a criminal case." Binhak, one of four former Starr staffers to take the stand Monday, testified that "Mrs. Tripp was not grasping the technicalities" of her legal situation when she first met at her home with four members of Starr's staff around midnight on Jan. 12, 1998. But now, nearly two years later, that same distinction could be crucial for the Columbia, Maryland, woman who faces up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines on each count if convicted. Howard County Circuit Judge Diane Leasure was expected to rule in open court Tuesday morning as to whether Tripp's immunity began on Jan. 16, when Starr's office gave her a letter of immunity and subpoenaed her tape-recordings of conversations with Lewinsky, or on Feb. 19, when it was officially ordered by a federal judge in Washington. Tripp's attorneys, who want the case dismissed, claim her immunity protection began on the earlier date. If Leasure agrees, prosecutors will lose a crucial piece of evidence, namely a taped conversation with Lewinsky from Dec. 22, 1997. Tripp is charged specifically with making the tape and sharing its contents with a reporter from Newsweek magazine. On Monday, Tripp was absent from court but submitted a sworn affidavit maintaining that she would never have come forward with her evidence against Clinton without Starr's immunity letter and the later court order to assist investigators. Later in the week, the judge also will oversee a so-called Kastigar hearing in which prosecutors must show that their evidence against Tripp is independent from the protected findings of Starr's investigation. Lawyers have said that Lewinsky herself may be called to testify. Because of the White House sex scandal's rampant coverage by myriad media outlets, ranging from supermarket tabloids to cable-TV talk shows, the challenge facing Maryland prosecutors is being compared with a failed attempt by U.S. authorities to prosecute former Reagan aide Oliver North for his role in the Iran-Contra affair following his televised testimony before Congress. Starr's investigation of Clinton's affair with Lewinsky, sparked by Tripp's tapes, led to impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice against the president. Clinton was acquitted in February by the Senate. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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