Why Clearing A Cop's Name Matters In Abramoff Scandal

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This is the loophole.

Why Clearing A Cop's Name Matters In Abramoff Scandal

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Monday, March 20, 2006; Page D01

A former D.C. cop could alter national politics this year.

Here's why: An appeals court decision that involves (a former Metropolitan Police Department detective named Nelson Valdes) could well make it harder for prosecutors to make a case against lawmakers implicated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
....

Scholars say that as a result of the Valdes case, the process of charging lawmakers and their aides with wrongdoing in the Abramoff scandal (and others like it) will be more difficult.

"Now, virtually every time the government tries to bring an official-acts prosecution, the defense will cite the Valdes case," said George D. Brown, professor at Boston College Law School. "The decision raises a substantial element of doubt,"

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, agreed. "I'd be very troubled if I were in the Justice Department pursuing these things," she said.

[Lerkfish]

1. you're missing an important part of that story in your excerpt.

here...including this might help people who don't want to subscribe to read the whole story.

According to the court's record, Valdes ran license plates through a law enforcement database and provided the vehicle-owner information he collected to a person who paid him cash. He was convicted in 2002 of taking illegal gratuities.

But a three-judge appeals court panel recently reversed that decision. It said, in an opinion dated Feb. 24, that his actions weren't a formal part of his duties and therefore weren't covered by the statute.