DoJ Investigating Siegelman Prosecutor For Misconduct

[babylonsister]

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.

"We consider this a serious case of prosecutorial misconduct that impacted the rights of the defendant," Frohsin, of the Birmingham office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz, told us, "and we intend to rigorously pursue this matter with authorities at the Department of Justice."

Frohsin also stated that a DOJ attorney had been assigned to look into their complaint.

more...

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

[mod mom]

1. Here's more info:

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

I POSTED THIS LAST NIGHT BUT IT SANK LIKE A ROCK. I HOPE YOURS TAKES NOTICE.

GUESS THE BUSHIES DIDN'T WANT AN IRANIAN AMERICAN SHARING IN THE PROFITS FROM THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY! :mad:

[midnight]

4. Another calling card compliments of Rove:

"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."

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Most messed up DOJ ever.

[midnight]

3. Good luck!

[gratuitous]

5. Oh goody!

The Bush Department of Justice "investigating" itself. I'm sure it will have all the credibilty we've come to expect from everything else this administration has turned its hand to. And the conclusion of this investigation will surely come down with the usual load of feathers that comes crashing down whenever an agency (such as the military) investigates its own behavior.

[babylonsister]

7. I know, I know. My first thought as well. nt

[tsuki]

6. I hope she is disbarred. nt

[mod mom]

8. She and others involved in the prosecution of Siegelman should do time for their

roles in sending a man to prison for political reasons. Disbarring is not sufficient-imho.

:mad:

[barbtries]

9. omigawd it's high time this woman

was investigated. she stinks so bad. i hope whoever is on it is not in her pocket. or a republican. she deserves to be jailed.

i have to go back and read the story but i have been waiting for it seems like a terribly long time for this news.

[Wilms]

10. .

:kick: