Ted Stevens Prosecutor Commits Suicide

[babylonsister]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/09/27/stevens_prosecutor_commits_suicide.html

September 27, 2010

Stevens Prosecutor Commits Suicide

NPR has learned that the lawyer who prosecuted former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) for corruption -- a prosecution that failed amidst charges of misconduct -- took his own life over the weekend.

An investigation into the misconduct is expected to be concluded in a few weeks.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. How sad...

[hlthe2b]

2. Yes... it is hard to know what else to say...

[GodlessBiker]

3. Wow.

[Ian David]

4. Well, that's convenient for who ever may have ordered him to sabotage the case. n/t

[Renew Deal]

5. Or for whoever wanted Stevens out of the Senate

:shrug:

[Scuba]

7. Hmmm. I smell a rat.

[kpete]

6. hmmmmmmmmm

i feel bad for his family and friends.

and to you babylonsister,
I am sorry not to say thank you for all you do here at DU
- you are an inspiration and a constant soldier for truth,
peace, kp

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Whoa! Who was it?

I dug around and found the below article, dated Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Note that one of the "gang" was involved with Alabama prosecutions....there are three of the Stevens prosecuting team mentioned in this article, below.
Wonder if the other 2 are in poor health....


William Welch II,the former chief of the Justice Department’s public corruption unit, who stepped down amid a criminal investigation of his team’s handling of the prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, emerged Thursday as the lead prosecutor in a high-profile leak case........
Snip....
Late last year, Welch returned to Springfield, Mass., where he had been an Assistant U.S. Attorney before joining the Public Integrity section as a deputy chief in 2006.
He remains an employee of the Criminal Division with the title “Senior Litigation Counsel” but is based in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Snip........
Welch’s former Principal Deputy in the Public Integrity Section, Brenda Morris, who is also under investigation, left Washington under similar circumstances. In September, she moved to U.S. Attorney’s office in Atlanta for personal reasons but is still identified by the department as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Criminal Division.

She, too, recently surfaced in a high-profile public corruption investigation involving Alabama lawmakers and gambling legislation.

The cases are the first public indication that the prosecutors have continued to handle sensitive matters for the department since Stevens’ conviction on false statement charges was thrown out roughly one year ago. A court-appointed prosecutor is investigating whether the six lawyers involved in the prosecution violated criminal contempt statutes by withholding evidence favorable to Stevens’ defense.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting a separate investigation. Both probes are near completion, people familiar with them say.

Nicholas Marsh, another member of the Stevens trial team, has also been in the public eye since his transfer out of the Public Integrity Section last summer. As a lawyer in the department’s Office of International Affairs, Marsh was involved in requesting the extradition of Roman Polanski to face sentencing in the U.S. for having sex with a minor three decades ago.

http://www.mainjustice.com/tag/brenda-morris/

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. It was Nick Marsh, who tried to extradite Roman Polanski.

The investigation into the "screw up" of the Steven's trial is still ongoing.
"Marsh's lawyer, Bob Luskin, said that he was "absolutely convinced" the outcome would have exonerated his client. He could offer few details about the suicide, other than to say that it happened over the weekend. The investigation had been an emotional strain for his client, Luskin said.

"It's just shocking, it's awful," he said. "The more so because I think, frankly, we were within shouting distance of having this thing successfully behind him. For it to happen now, of all times, is more than tragic."
Read more: http://community.adn.com/adn/node/153314#ixzz10lBzDxZq



News of Nicholas Marsh's death, first reported by NPR on Monday, came ahead of a forthcoming report by a special prosecutor appointed by a judge that looks into those misconduct allegations.

Marsh was one of the so-called Stevens Six and
had been separately under investigation for alleged misconduct in convictions of two other Alaska politicians.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/stevens_prosecutor_commits_suicide_ahead_of_report.php

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. RIP