| http://www.alternewswire.com/gersten/
"It appears, as new facts emerge, that the vast power of the state was used to destroy him." [US House of Representatives, Gersten report, page 2] The Gersten Report On April 10, 2001, the Government Reform Committee of the US House of Representatives released a report entitled "The Joseph Gersten Case: A Study of the Abuse of Government Power." It reveals in chilling detail how federal, state, and local government and law enforcement officials ruined the career and life of a Florida politician, Joseph Gersten. It is a damning, and ignored, case study in how the government can indeed be "out to get" someone. The House of Reps' Website offers the report only in Adobe Acrobat format, assuring that most people won't attempt to download the 10-megabyte file. Therefore, alterNewswire has made the report available in HTML and plain text versions. Searches of the Websites of the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, CNN, and MSNBC show no articles on this revelatory report. Some of the most damning quotes "It appears, as new facts emerge, that the vast power of the state was used to destroy him." [page 2] "The principal concern of the Committee is the appearance that government officials were engaged in a headlong rush to destroy Gersten, and that they did so knowing that they were using the sex and drugs allegations as a means to achieve that end." [page 7] "It is a matter of some concern that the State Attorney’s [ie, Janet Reno's] Office made great efforts to determine whether Gersten filed a false police report regarding his stolen car, and yet appears to have made no effort to determine why a demonstrably false report was made linking Gersten to a murder. It appears, in hindsight, that the State Attorney’s Office was protecting the person responsible for the false murder allegation." [footnote 49] "The State Attorney’s Office of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida appears to be engaged in an ongoing effort to withhold significant information from Congress." [page 2] "When all facts are considered, it appears that Gersten was being treated unfairly, and that government officials were more concerned about using allegations to harm Gersten than to find the truth." [page 25] "However, there are so many indications of unfair -- and possibly corrupt -- practices by state and federal government officials that the Committee believes it important to provide a public explanation of events. Some of the important evidence uncovered by the Committee was kept from the public and, apparently, from key investigators. Indeed, one of the most important matters was deliberately kept from Gersten and his lawyers. Furthermore, it appears that there was even an effort to keep the most significant matter from this Committee." [page 7] "Throughout the Gersten investigation, prosecutors appear to have been more interested in spin than in fact." [page 21] "The investigators and prosecutors who reviewed the FBI interviews simply appear to have been content to accept the significant discrepancies in the stories of the various witnesses. The fact that they do not even appear to have checked with the witnesses about the discrepancies indicates that they were more satisfied with the implications of the stories than their accuracy. It is troubling that law enforcement, from the records provided to the Committee, appears to have exhibited no skepticism, and appears to have taken the word of the accusers without any effort to challenge the inconsistencies in the stories." [page 24] "The decision to compel Gersten’s testimony, while ignoring critical evidence in his favor -- and the ultimate decision to withhold this evidence from Gersten or the court -- is a powerful indication of bad faith by the prosecutors." [footnote 20] "Based on available information, the Committee finds that state and federal law enforcement officials acted in a way that indicates extreme bad faith in their investigations of Joseph Gersten." [page 1] "A review of the evidence suggests that, at a minimum, individuals participated in a conspiracy to make allegations that they knew to be false. It also appears that government officials failed to develop and disclose evidence that was obviously exculpatory. The use of government authority to conduct an examination that purposefully ignores relevant information offends notions of fundamental fairness and should not be tolerated." [page 1] "For example, one of Gersten’s main accusers, and a witness heavily relied upon by state and federal law enforcement officials in the sex and drugs allegations, was involved in a contemporaneous effort to frame Gersten for a murder. Moreover, this witness offered money in exchange for false testimony. State and federal officials failed to ask why their primary witness in one case was trying to frame Gersten for murder." [page 1] "When Congress received all documents relating to the Gersten case from the State Attorney’s Office, the information about the attempt to frame Gersten for murder was suspiciously absent.... Why did the State Attorney’s Office withhold this information from Congress when it produced documents to the Committee on Government Reform in September of 2000?" [page 11] "Why did state and federal law enforcement officers fail to conduct a thorough investigation of the false murder allegation against Gersten, and why was nobody prosecuted for making a false report to the police?" [page 12] "Why did the FBI give money to prostitute Lisa McCann after she suborned the false murder allegation?" [page 12] "According to Detective Osborn, Officer J. L. Garcia -- who was responsible for bringing in the witness who made the allegation that Gersten committed a murder -- continued to ask why Gersten was not being indicted for the murder.[54] This occurred after the witness recanted, and after the homicide detectives investigating the murder had developed other suspects. Why was Garcia so interested in pushing the Gersten murder allegation?" [page 13] "While the Committee does not take the position that all law enforcement officials involved in the Gersten case acted inappropriately, it is clear that some did." [page 26] |
