TPM: New OPR Investigation of Siegelman Prosecutor-US Atty Alice Martin

[mod mom]

New OPR Investigation of Siegelman Prosecutor

By Kate Klonick - July 16, 2008, 6:11PM

We already know that the the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the alleged politically motivated prosecution in the case of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D). Today, TPMmuckraker independently verified that the OPR is looking into another complaint-- this one for prosecutorial misconduct-- involving the Northern District of Alabama's U.S. Attorney's office, specifically U.S. Attorney Alice Martin.

The new OPR investigation stems from a case involving Axion Corp., which was acquitted in October 2007 of violating the Arms Export Control Act. In an interview with TPMmuckraker this morning, Henry Frohsin, an attorney for Axion Corp., confirmed that they had sent a letter of complaint against Martin to the OPR on May 9. News of the investigation was first reported by Scott Horton, at the American Lawyer, citing anonymous sources.

-snip

Martin's case against Axion Corp., began in 2007 when the company was charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act by exchanging drawings for a Blackhawk helicopter part to a Chinese manufacturer.

According to an article on the case in the Birmingham News, one of the prosecution's own witnesses stated that the drawings Axion sent to the Chinese were not marked "with customary warnings barring it from being sent to trading partners subject to arms control laws." And according to the defense, the Black Hawk drawings were also available over the Internet-- excluding them from arms-control provisions:

"Hang on, I have not heard about that before," trial judge Johnson said as Alex Latifi lawyer James Barger cross-examined a government witness on the trial's fifth day. "These drawings are on the Internet?"

Despite their crumbling case, the prosecution refused to withdraw. Judge Inge Johnson of the Federal District Court of Birmingham threw out the case, writing that the "evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction."

-snip

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_opr_investigation_of_siege.php


HERE"S MORE:

Feds knock; a business is lost


By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — As Alex Latifi walks through his empty factory, the only sounds are his footsteps and the dull hum of the wavering fluorescent light overhead. The lathes and drill presses that once churned out a steady stream of critical parts for the U.S. military are still.

The ghostly silence at Axion is the result of a four-year government probe that targeted Latifi for allegedly violating U.S. export law by sending to China classified drawings of an Army Black Hawk helicopter part and falsifying related tests.

Armed federal agents raided Latifi's home and business in 2004 and 2006, seizing computers, cellphones and cardboard boxes full of records. Prosecutors froze $2.5 million of his assets in 2006, dealing what may prove a fatal blow to his 24-year-old business. Finally, in March 2007, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin unveiled a multiple-count criminal indictment in Birmingham, Ala., placing the Iranian-American immigrant at the intersection of two of the country's most emotionally charged national security worries: Iran and China.

"Keeping sensitive U.S. military technology from falling into the wrong hands is a top priority for the Justice Department," Kenneth Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security, said at the time. "This indictment and other recent illegal export prosecutions should serve as a warning to companies seeking to enhance their profits at the expense of America's national security."

But rather than deterring renegade exporters, the Latifi case now appears as a cautionary tale of what critics call an overzealous prosecution. It is also a reminder that the innocent can pay an enormous price while the gears of justice grind. "The government's case itself it seems to me was sloppily prepared. … Their prosecutorial zeal caused them to overlook some deficiencies in their case," says Clif Burns, an export law attorney at Powell Goldstein in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the case.

-snip

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2008-07-09-axion-blackhawk-latifi-martin_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[MadMaddie]

1. So knowing how these Republicans are incompetent and

only abide by the law of cronyism...is it possible that the DOJ was trying to put this Iranian-American immigrant's company out of business because one of their competitors was a Republican supporter. Kinda what the Nazi's did to Jewish companies, handed them over to people who they considered more deserving?

Charges should be brought against the DOJ and Alice whatever the hell her name is. This is bullshit.

[mod mom]

2. That's what it sounds like. You gotta love this part:

"And apparently the DOJ immediately started covering its tracks:

Johnson's ruling also said the government has withdrawn its request for a certification from the court endorsing the asset seizure as having had a reasonable cause. That eliminates any chances for Axion's lawyers to demand a hearing to examine the Justice Department's memos, legal papers and investigative methods, said Frohsin, a lawyer with the Birmingham office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz."

:mad:

Let's hope justice is served to the bush Administration's DOJ.