City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones opens up a can of whoop ass on State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle!

We've discussed City of Miami Commissioner, Michelle Spence-Jones, and her legal struggles over the last several years many times throughout the course of our blog.  Following her legal battles with the state attorneys office was especially tough for me as I saw many parallels in how they dealt with her with how the state dealt with my wife's case from back in October 2008, fabricated evidence, coercion of witnesses, lying prosecutors etc.  Most damaging though was the loss of reputation and standing in the community not to mention the financial devastation that was visited on my family and I'm sure the Spence-Jones household as well.

If you're fortunate enough to have your criminal case either dismissed or go to trial and be acquitted, everyone tells you to be happy, put it behind you and go on your way and try the best you can to put your life back together.  That's really tough to stomach as a victim of a wrongful or malicious prosecution, how can you sit back and have your life be ruined and then not want to get revenge when you're vindicated?  Even worse, when people tell you that you should be thankful to the state attorneys office for dismissing the charges against you?  WTF?  Luckily, our friend Michelle Spence-Jones wasn't having any part of that nonsense and yesterday she took the first step in finding justice and punishing those who tried to destroy her by filing this lawsuit in federal court...

Michelle Spence-jones Lawsuit Against Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Tomas Regalado

Take the time and read the complaint, it's incredible.  Someone has finally memorialized what we have all known to be true here in Miami, that there is a political mob that runs this town that all work together to cover each other and to go after what they perceive as common enemies.  More on this later, as I believe that this lawsuit speaks directly to several of the cases that we've been writing about recently.

Also, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you who both publicly and privately have sent me messages regarding the passing of my father.  I can't tell you how much it means to me to know that there are people out there who I've never even met, let alone know, that took time out of their day to think about me.  Thank you friends, you guys are the reason that I keep moving forward.

Prosecutorial misconduct, the gift that keeps on giving...

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Just when you think you've run out of crap to write about comes another instance of flagrant prosecutorial misconduct, the icing on the cake here is that we're already familiar with some of the key players yet somehow the Miami Herald forgot to mention their names.  From the Herald article...

Two MIA “fuel farm” defendants get new trial

By DAVID OVALLE

Two defendants in the Miami International Airport fuel-farm corruption case deserve new trials because a judge failed to give proper instructions to the jury, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Cliff Berry Inc., and the company’s former environmental director, Jeffrey Clint Smith, were convicted at trial in December 2008 of first-degree grand theft. The accusations: They pilfered huge amounts of fuel from the airport’s storage depot.

Smith had been free on bond while awaiting the decision. “This news in the new year is extremely welcome from him and his family,” Smith’s attorney, Michael S. Pasano, said. “He had always insisted on his innocence.”

The Third District Court of Appeal also ruled Wednesday that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola failed to quickly hold a hearing to question prosecutors about a key witness who changed his testimony.

The indictments were part of a far-reaching probe that uncovered several racketeering schemes at MIA. In all, more than 20 defendants pleaded guilty.

As for the company and Smith, investigators alleged that company trucks were supposed to haul away wastewater but drove off with jet fuel instead, and later sold it to yacht owners.

At trial, defense attorneys insisted their clients believed they had the “good faith” right to haul away the contents of a fuel-farm tank.

Scola refused defense attorneys’ request that the jury be given instructions outlining the “good faith” defense.

The Third DCA ruled Wednesday she should have allowed the jury instruction because “the evidence at trial was sufficient to suggest the good faith theory.”

Smith was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The company was ordered to pay $1.23 million and was barred from having any government contracts. The company’s former president, Cliff Berry II, was acquitted.

Another legal issue revolved around defendant Brian Schneir, a former supervisor at ASIG Fueling, another company that prosecutors said aided in the theft of the jet fuel.

Schneir pleaded guilty to organized fraud and agreed to spend two years in prison in return for testifying against Smith and Cliff Berry Inc. However, at trial, Schneir changed testimony he gave in a deposition about the dollar amount of fuel stolen and the date the scheme began.

Appellate lawyers argued that Miami-Dade prosecutors failed to quickly inform the defense of the change in Schneir’s testimony. Third DCA Judges Richard J. Suarez and Barbara Lagoa said Scola should have automatically conducted a hearing to see if prosecutors violated rules regarding turning over evidence to the defense.

A third appeals judge, Leslie Rothenberg, disagreed, saying the two defendants were convicted “by overwhelming evidence.”

Scola later ruled that prosecutors did not violate any rules. After prosecutors moved to revoke Schneir’s plea deal, saying he lied before testifying at trial, Scola gave him 12 years in prison.

Ok, so besides the judge screwing up and not allowing the jury instructions to outline the "good faith" defense, there's one other critical problem, the states main cooperating witness changed his testimony before the trial, problem is that the prosecutor knew that the witness had changed his critical testimony yet decided not to tell the defense attorneys about it!  From the article...

Appellate lawyers argued that Miami-Dade prosecutors failed to quickly inform the defense of the change in Schneir’s testimony. Third DCA Judges Richard J. Suarez and Barbara Lagoa said Scola should have automatically conducted a hearing to see if prosecutors violated rules regarding turning over evidence to the defense.

RUT RO!  So the prosecutor knew after his key witness was deposed that his testimony had changed before trial yet he forgot to let the defendants know and in essence covered this critical fact up?  Who could this unnamed prosecutor be?  Why would the Herald write this story accusing the prosecutor of misconduct yet leave out the guys name?  Any guesses as to who this guy is?  Perhaps this photo will help jar your memory...

Richard Scruggs

That would be none other than our favorite ex public corruption prosecutor Richard Scruggs!  You all remember Mr. Scruggs from his stellar performance during the Michelle Spence-Jones mess don't you?  Throughout that debacle Mr. Scruggs hid evidence, coerced witnesses and downright lied to witnesses about evidence he had in his possession in order to get them to say what he wanted.  So the question that begs to be asked is why the hell did the Herald not name Scruggs in the article?  We were able to identify the mysterious prosecutor in this case only after reading the actual appeal, if you have the time, check it out...

Prosecutorial Misconduct Cliff Berry Inc and Jeffrey Clint Smith vs the State of Florida

Carey-Schuler

Now, who's this other player in this fuel farm corruption case that goes unnamed in the Herald article?  That would be none other than former county Commissioner Barbara Carey-Schuler, the same ex commissioner that played a key role in both getting City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones indicted then through changing her testimony also helped get her case dismissed.  For those of you with a good memory, you might remember Carey-Schuler as the commissioner that was buddy buddy with that crook Oscar Rivero, who was practically a fixture in her office, that was responsible for stealing millions of dollars that were meant for public housing only to build himself a mansion in South Miami.  Funny how her name keeps coming up in this high profile public corruption cases yet somehow she never gets charged?

Regardless, just another instance of a dirty prosecutor who's resorted to obtaining convictions by any means necessary even if it means breaking the very laws he swore to uphold and another black eye for our local state attorneys office.  Oh well...

Who's ultimately accountable for the failed prosecution of City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones?

Yesterday afternoon Florida governor Rick Scott officially gave Michelle Spence-Jones her job as a City of Miami Commissioner back after the state dropped the remaining grand theft charges against her.  Today we're hearing from our colleagues over at Investigation Miami that the prosecutor from the Spence-Jones case, Richard Scruggs, knew about the exculpatory evidence that exonerated Spence-Jones for over ONE YEAR!  Yet somehow it still took a year for the state to drop the charges against her?  From the states closeout memo that we posted yesterday, Prosecutor Scruggs says...

“Without Dr. Carey-Shuler's cooperative testimony, and without her explanation of why she appears to have drafted the letter which was provided to MMAP, the State does not believe that it can meet its burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Ok, but there's a problem with all this.  Prosecutor Scruggs and his supervisors at the state attorneys office were morally and ethically bound to drop the charges against the defendant once their case fell apart, as one of our favorite bloggers so eloquently put it...

"Trying a defendant that a prosecutor knows is innocent, or even bringing to trial a person that the prosecutor knows there is not sufficient evidence to justify a conviction is an offense so odious to the American system of justice that prosecutors who engage in such abuse should be referred to the bar for disbarment. The supervisors who approve of such conduct should be disbarred as well."

As you know, there's been plenty of allegations of prosecutorial misconduct swirling around the Spence-Jones case, illegal wiretaps, witness coercion, hiding of exculpatory evidence, etc.  In my opinion though, the reluctance of the prosecutor to drop the charges is the most egregious offense.  Think of the millions of dollars that this whole debacle has now cost the people involved, everything from the costs of the investigation, prosecution, defense and ultimately the cost for running the numerous elections that had to be conducted as a result of Spence-Jones' departure from the commission.  Not to mention the costs involved with the city reimbursing Spence-Jones legal bills, back pay and now possibly some sort of severance package for the whack job, Reverend Dunn, that replaced her.  

All of this could have been avoided if there had been a proper review of Prosecutor Scruggs's actions.  Was the case properly vetted by his supervisors before the charges were filed?  Did anyone consider the consequences of arresting a public figure from an embattled district of the city of Miami with evidence as shaky as what had been presented?  Not to mention, who the hell was responsible for letting Scruggs run amok and cross upstanding pillars of the community like Armando Codina?  

Let's not forget that this is the same prosecutor who was prosecuting former commissioner Art Teele who before the trial leaked unfounded allegations drug abuse and relations with a transsexual prostitute by jail house snitch to the local media which in my opinion ultimately caused Mr. Teele to commit suicide.  What was the point of leaking the interviews of the jailhouse snitch to the media before trial?  How could an ethical attorney let alone a prosecutor be allowed to irreversibly smear the reputation of a public figure like that with unfounded allegations of a convicted drug abusing prostitute?  Plus, why the hell is the state attorneys office so eager to give the media copies of witness interviews while they fight tooth and nail to deny people they charge with crimes the same information?  I know defense attorneys that have been asking for copies of witness interviews and statements regarding the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case for nearly three years, after numerous motions before the court and at least four court orders to this day the state still wont turn over the information requested yet they gave away the damaging interview transcripts from the Teele case to the media so gratuitously?  WTF?

Ultimately these actions disgraced our state attorney Kathy Rundle.  Long after people like Scruggs are gone and forgotten, it's going to be Rundle's legacy that's harmed by these idiotic prosecutions and despite what the negative public perception of Rundle might be right now, I don't think it's fair.  At this point considering everything that's happened not only with the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct during the case but with the way prosecutor Scruggs has behaved after the case was dismissed with attacks against defense attorney Peter Raben which ultimately further humiliated the state attorneys office, I can only hope their will be a full investigation into his actions both by the State Attorneys Office and the Florida Bar.  Can the Bar and the SAO stand by and do nothing after hearing something like this...

"they both said they were lied to and defrauded and tricked by the prosecutor"

I should hope not.  Let's not forget though, the overwhelming majority of prosecutors in the SAO are hard working, fair and underpaid people that are actually there working to see that justice is done, but there are a few who are blinded by their need to "win at any cost" who have resorted to breaking the law themselves, these people need to be dealt with.  The actions of Prosecutor Scruggs are not unique, in fact they closely mimic the M.O. of another prosecutor that we've written about at length, Bill Kostrzewski, illegal wiretaps at attorneys offices, coercing witnesses, fabricating evidence, hiding exculpatory evidence, cutting immunity deals with cooperating witnesses without disclosure, etc.  Way too much misconduct and illegal activity to quietly shove under the rug.  The question is, once all these allegations come to light and are proven, will their be any consequences?

Grand theft charges dropped against suspended City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.

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Incredible.  There's plenty of people writing about the charges of Grand Theft against former city of Miami commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones getting dropped yesterday, so no need to rehash the story here.  The crux of the case against Spence-Jones was the allegation that she forged a letter on former commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler's letterhead authorizing the release of $50,000 to companies controlled by Spence-Jones but during a deposition, Spence-Jones defense attorneys showed a Carey-Shuler a draft copy of the letter with her handwriting on it after which Carey-Shuler changed her story and said that indeed she did sign the letter releasing the funds to Spence-Jones.  With that, the state should have thrown out the case against Spence-Jones as the one and only witness for the prosecution made an admission that destroyed the states case, even worse, the letter with Carey-Shuler's handwriting on it came from the states own case file.  Could that state have been hiding the letter from Spence-Jones then somehow forgot to remove it from the discovery file handed over to the defense?  Certainly a posibility.  Or could the state have had the letter all along and simply over looked it?  Unlikely in my opinion.  

Regardless, as we all know, the state forged ahead with the case after this fatal blow was struck to their case and we were even lead to believe that despite the lack of evidence against Spence-Jones that the state was going to move forward and take the case to trial.  Now that the charges have been dropped, the public corruption prosecutor on the case, Richard Scruggs, addresses the matter of the handwritten Carey-Shuler letter that exonerated Spence-Jones in the cases close out memo by suggesting that the defense team somehow slipped the letter into the boxes of evidence that they were allowed to examine after Spence-Jones was arrested.  Take a look at this excerpt from the close out memo...

Really?  Is that the best veteran prosecutor Richard Scruggs could do?    Spence-Jones and her attorney played some elaborate game to get the states records custodian out of the room so that they could slip this letter in?  He's laying the blame for this bungled case at the feet of the defense somehow magically getting this letter into his case file?  That's an unbelievable statement and hopefully grounds for a serious bar complaint against the prosecutor.  You can read the states close out memo in it's entirety here...

Michelle Spence-jones Close Out Memo

As if all of this wasn't bad enough, what makes all this even more unbearable are the comments from the Reverend Richard Dunn who was appointed to take over Spence-Jones' commission seat while she was suspended.  During several interviews yesterday, Mr. Dunn suggested that although he was appointed then later elected to Spence-Jones' vacant commission seat he would begrudgingly step aside and let her have her job back.  There's a minor detail though, tacky zoot suit wearing Reverend Dunn believes that since he was elected (after promising the city of Miami that he wouldn't run for election) that he believed that he was entitled to his $60k per year salary and benefits till 2013!  THE FUCK YOU SAY!?

Honestly, why not?  Considering all the other former City of Miami employees that have recently departed with golden parachutes, why shouldn't he get his?  Typical Miami bullshit, this is precisely why we're the laughing stock of the nation, if not the world.

Prosecutors gone wild. An outrageous instance of prosecutorial misconduct in the Casey Anthony murder trial.

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Before we get started, I want to make one thing abundantly clear.  I absolutely loathe Casey Anthony, if for nothing else because of the way she carried on during the month after her daughters untimely death.  While I do believe she had something to do with her daughters death, I think it was a stretch to get anyone to believe that she was guilty of the crimes the prosecutors charged her with as did the jury who ultimately found her not guilty of first degree murder and spared her a possible death sentence.  With that said though, Ms Anthony, like anyone else charged with a crime no matter how heinous, entitled to have her day in court with the rights provided to her by the constitution.  Regardless of how horrendous the allegations against her were, law enforcement and the prosecutors still have to play by the rules, especially when it comes to exculpatory material or as it's often called, Brady Material.


Now, for those of you who followed the Anthony murder trial, you'd know that one of the prosecutions most damaging allegations against Anthony was that she googled "chloroform" 84 times during the time her daughter went "missing".  The prosecution implied to the jury that since she googled "chloroform" so many times that she must have therefore used chloroform in some way to kill her daughter.  A bit of a stretch perhaps, but it was one of the prosecutions strongest weapons against Anthony in an otherwise circumstantial case.  The prosecution came to this conclusion through a forensic computer expert named John Bradley, from the New York Times article...

The finding of 84 visits was used repeatedly during the trial to suggest that Ms. Anthony had planned to murder her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, who was found dead in 2008. Ms. Anthony, who could have faced the death penalty, was acquitted of the killing on July 5.

Ok, but at some point during the investigation Mr. Bradley comes to another conclusion about this google search for "chloroform"...

Assertions by the prosecution that Casey Anthony conducted extensive computer searches on the word “chloroform” were based on inaccurate data, a software designer who testified at the trial said Monday.


The designer, John Bradley, said Ms. Anthony had visited what the prosecution said was a crucial Web site only once, not 84 times, as prosecutors had asserted. He came to that conclusion after redesigning his software, and immediately alerted prosecutors and the police about the mistake, he said.

If he immediately alerted prosecutors and the police then why the hell didn't we or anyone else here about this during the trial?

“I gave the police everything they needed to present a new report,” Mr. Bradley said. “I did the work myself and copied out the entire database in a spreadsheet to make sure there was no issue of accessibility to the data.”

No kidding?  

Mr. Bradley, chief executive of Siquest, a Canadian company, said he even volunteered to fly to Orlando at his own expense to show them the findings.

Yet somehow the prosecution never had Mr. Bradley come down and correct his testimony, interesting.

Cheney Mason, one of Ms. Anthony’s defense lawyers, said it was “outrageous” that prosecutors withheld critical information on the “chloroform” searches.


“The prosecution is absolutely obligated to bring forth to the court any and all evidence that could be exculpatory,” Mr. Mason said. “If in fact this is true, and the prosecution concealed this new information, it is more than shame on them. It is outrageous.”

There you have it.  Even if Ms. Anthony was found guilty of all the charges against her, this instance of the prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence would have been enough to get the verdict against her thrown out.  How the hell do these guys feel they have the right and the power to play with peoples lives like this by withholding crucial evidence like this?  This type of behavior simply highlights the "win at all costs" attitude that we've seen time and time again by morally and ethically challenged prosecutors and police.  This instance of prosecutorial misconduct is no different than Miami Dade county prosecutor Bill Kostrzewski sitting on crucial exculpatory evidence in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case (evidence that the state to this day claims doesn't exist), prosecutor Richard Scruggs sitting on exculpatory evidence in the Michelle Spence-Jones case or even worse, Prosecutor Mike Nifong's behavior in the Duke Lacrosse scandal.

Consider now for a moment what the consequences of withholding this evidence from the jury in the Anthony murder trial could have been, Casey Anthony being convicted and sentenced to death.  Is that right?  The prosecutors conducting themselves in this manner to get a conviction by any means necessary?  Think about this most egregious example of prosecutorial misconduct next time someone you know that's run afoul of the justice system tells you that the cops and prosecutors have made up evidence or are trying to railroad them, maybe you'll think twice.  Or how about the allegations of misconduct by the prosecutors and investigators involved in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud trial?  Doesn't seem to far fetched now, does it? 

Shame on the prosecutors and the law enforcement officers involved in this mess.  In a perfect world prosecutors Linda Drane Burdick and Jeff Ashton should be disbarred and criminally prosecuted for their behavior as should any other prosecutor who exhibits the same pattern of behavior. 

No deal for Michelle Spence-Jones...

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At least not today. If you believe the rumors circulating regarding her case, today was the day the state was to drop the charges against former city of Miami commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, needless to say, it didn't happen. Her attorney, Peter Raben, was overheard telling the judge at sidebar that he was "no where near ready to go to trial". The judge then proceeded to give another status date for August 28, 2011. 

Based on what we saw today, there doesn't seem to be any "deal" on the horizon and the case seems to be headed for trial. More later.

The states bribery trial against Michelle Spence-Jones STINKS! The Prosecution rests and a few words about our soon to be recalled Mayor, Carlos Alvarez.

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We learned through our commenters and our colleagues over at Investigation Miami that the prosecution rests today in the suspended City of Miami commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones bribery trial. The state through prosecutor Richard Scruggs did it's best to convince Judge Rosa Rodriguez and the jury that Mrs. Spence-Jones was indeed guilty of taking a bribe from two prominent developers in exchange for her vote on an item that was to come before the commission. Unfortunately for the state, the case they presented against Spence-Jones is so weak that the Judge went so far as to remark...

"I’m finding it difficult to understand the state’s theory in all this. What was the corrupt intent? I want to know that...Ultimately, the money, whether her fingerprints are there or not, the money did not go to her personally,"

You're trying a bribery case and you can't prove the alleged bribe went to the person you've charged?! Is there any doubt considering the weak case the states put up that the jury is going to find Spence-Jones not guilty?

Regardless of her guilt or innocence, the prosecutor in this case has done such a piss poor job in putting this case together that there is no way a jury is going to come back with a guilty verdict. As we discussed in the past, the state obtained the most damaging testimony against the commissioner through misrepresenting crucial facts to a key witness in order to elicit the testimony they needed to indict Spence-Jones, what's worse is that the same prosecutor did the exact same thing with a key witness against Spence-Jones on her other criminal case. Is this an isolated case of a rogue prosecutor who engages in all sorts of prosecutorial misconduct in order to win a convictions by any means necessary or is this a disturbing pattern of behavior that is rampant at the State Attorneys Office? Let's not forget that what ASA Scruggs has done throughout both Spence-Jones prosecutions is no different than what his colleague ASA Bill Kostrzewski has done throughout one of the mortgage fraud prosecutions that we've discussed at length. After hearing of the prosecutors misdeeds, why hasn't the state attorneys office taken some sort of action against them? Why are these morally and ethically bankrupt prosecutors allowed to continue practicing and destroying peoples lives with these cases based on total bullshit? You would think that once the prosecutor discovered that the testimony that his case was based on was fundementally flawed that he would have immediately dropped the charges, but no, instead he redoubled his efforts to bring in a guilty verdict. Whenever I see this kind of behavior from a prosecutor, I'm always reminded of this quote from the author of the Justice Building blog...

"Trying a defendant that a prosecutor knows is innocent, or even bringing to trial a person that the prosecutor knows there is not sufficient evidence to justify a conviction is an offense so odious to the American system of justice that prosecutors who engage in such abuse should be referred to the bar for disbarment. The supervisors who approve of such conduct should be disbarred as well."

I couldn't have said it better myself. We can only hope that both the state attorneys office and the Florida Bar take action against the prosecutor once this case is over as well as address the arrest warrant from Costa Rica for Mr. Scruggs once and for all.

Now, moving on to the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos Alvarez. I listened to Mr. Alvarez try to defend himself against the recall campaign on a radio talk show today, the most interesting defense he brought up was that this was the only time a politician was being recalled that wasn't indicted or being accused of corruption or any other illegal acts. He went so far as to say that the bankers who were responsible for the real estate bubble and subsequent economic meltdown have gone unpunished while he's being recalled for doing nothing wrong! I have a huge problem with this proposition, forget about the fact that Alvarez and his cronies blew tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers money, forget about the fact that despite the worst economic conditions since the great depression Mr. Alvarez still gave record pay increases to his cronies and completely disregard the fact that he increased property taxes. Take this "bankers got away while I'm being recalled" proposition for a moment, since Mr. Alvarez seems to think the bankers got away with causing the real estate and economic meltdown, why the hell didn't he do something about it? Does anyone remember the Mayor's heralded "Mortgage Fraud Task Force"? If Mr. Alvarez was so concerned with "bankers getting away", why didn't he focus his task force on investigating and prosecuting the bankers that were creating the financial instruments that spawned the rampant real estate and mortgage fraud throughout our county? What did we get instead? Low level prosecutions of straw buyers and mortgage brokers through a series of bullshit cases put together by cops who couldn't even execute their own mortgages properly let alone correctly investigate a complicated mortgage fraud case. Mr. Alvarez, bankers got a way with destroying our economy and real estate markets because of people like you who were either asleep at the switch or just didn't give a shit, people who were two busy basking in the glory of self aggrandizing press releases and media appearances that boosted their own image yet did nothing to fight the epidemic that was destroying or economy.


See ya later Carlos, don't let the door hit you in the ass...

Prosecutor in Michelle Spence-Jones case is a WANTED MAN!

 

According to our friends at Investigation Miami, assistant state attorney Richard Scruggs has a warrant for his arrest!


Read about it here...

UPDATE!!!


From the Justice Building blog regarding the Spence-Jones trial...

"Rump, you are missing the big story of the week. ASA Richard Scruggs is being humiliated in courtroom 4-1. Armando Codina repeatedly accused him of lying. This trial is about a lot more than Michelle Spence Jones. The real story is Scruggs. I doubt he survives this debacle if she is acquitted. I see a JOA on the horizon followed by demands for an investigation, etc"

Surreptitious audio recordings.

You know, the kind that are made without people's consent?  Say for example the kind made without everyone's consent when some attorneys or cops are standing around discussing sensitive issues regarding a case they're working on or the kind that's made when a prosecutor has a body wire on someone who's talking to their attorney in the privacy of their attorneys office?  You get the drift don't you?

We've discussed several of these surreptitious recordings in the past, let's start with illegal audio recordings of Pastor Gaston Smith's interview with Assistant State Attorney Scruggs and a police detective.  From Francisco Alvarado's story in the Miami New Times...

Late Friday, at 9:05 p.m., Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko dealt a serious blow to state prosecutors' case against a popular pastor in Miami's black community.  Butchko ruled Assistant State Attorney Richard Scruggs cannot use digital recordings of two interviews with Rev. Gaston Smith. They were made months before the clergyman was indicted for stealing more than $10,000 in county grant money. 

The reason: Smith, his lawyer, and Scruggs did not know the cop who sat in for both interviews was recording them. 

"That is inexcusable," Butchko said. "It cannot happen ever. So those tapes are gone."

Those recordings and the fact that the prosecutor didn't immediately notify the defense that the tapes existed got the judge so worked up that she said the following...

"The way you handled this disclosure was very unprofessional," Butchko railed. "As soon as you found this out, not only did you need to call them, you needed to draft a letter explaining exactly what happened and the purpose of the tape and the meaning of it, to avoid an appearance of impropriety... That didn't happen." 

Ouch.

You all remember boxer short wearing federal prosecutor Sean Cronin don't you?  Prosecutor Cronin seems to have a soft spot for audio recordings as well, from the Federal Criminal Defense blog...

In addition, without informing the Department of Justice, the court or the defense, the prosecution also approached two fact witnesses and directed them to tape record their communications with defense counsel. The witnesses’ recordings of defense counsel without counsel’s knowledge were revealed to the defense only when one of the witnesses testified that he possessed a recording of a conversation with counsel during trial. Despite this disclosure, the defense’s motion alleges that it was not until one week later when a member of the prosecution team told a member of the defense team that he had been recorded by the witness without his knowledge.
After being informed of this fact, the district court ordered the government to prepare sworn affidavits regarding what had occurred. The prosecution submitted affidavits admitting that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had authorized the DEA to tape record communications between witnesses and the “defense team” without court authorization. A DEA agent subsequently instructed two government witnesses “to record any future conversations with members of the defense team,” and at least three records were made of conversations with defense attorneys or investigators.

Whoops.  That mess got the judge worked up as well, take a look...

Judge Gold found that AUSAs Cronin, his co-counsel, Andrea Hoffman, and his supervisor, Karen Gilbert, had failed to perform their duties and had engaged in a collateral witness tampering investigation motivated by Cronin’s personal animus against the defense team.

In addition to assessing attorney’s fees and costs Judge Gold entered a public reprimand against the three AUSAs and enjoined the United States Attorney’s Office from engaging in witness tampering investigations of defense counsel without first bringing such matters to his attention.

So what happened?  With all the noise surrounding these surreptitious recordings, why hasn't anyone been reprimanded or charged?  At the very least, why hasn't the bar taken any action against the lawyers involved?  I'm constantly reminded that making audio recordings of this nature without consent is illegal, yet we've seen several examples of people making and using these types of recordings without any significant consequences (that is aside from the government having to pay Dr. Shaygan $600K++).  So what if we had some audio recordings that exposed some of the people involved in one of the mortgage fraud cases we discussed behaving inappropriately, maybe even illegally?  What if that person was an attorney or worse an assistant state attorney?  God, that would be awful wouldn't it?   

Huge news on the Michelle Spence-Jones case.

Some of you may remember the embattled City of Miami commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones who was first arrested for Grand Theft and then months later indicted by a grand jury on charges of bribery.  The grand theft charge was based on a letter from former county commsioner Barbara Carey-Shuler authorizing the release of $50,000 to Spence-Jones and her company Karym Ventures Inc, only problem is that both Carey-Shuler and the state attorneys office said that the letter was a forgery.  That forged document was the basis of the states case against Spence-Jones, according to Francisco Alvarado's article in the Miami New Times today, there seems to be a problem with that letter that the state insists was forged...

During last month's deposition (obtained by New Times and WPLG's political reporter Michael Putney), Spence-Jones' criminal defense attorney Peter Raben showed Carey-Shuler two drafts of the February 15, 2005 correspondence. One draft, dated January 9, 2005, contained several handwritten edits, including a notation that said: "should release the $50,000 to Karym."

"Whose handwriting is that?" Raben asked Carey-Shuler. "It's mine," she replied. 

When Raben quizzed her if the final version -- the one prosecutors alleged was a forgery -- was "genuine," Carey-Shuler said: "That's correct."

UH OH!  Let's take a look at that first draft with Carey-Shuler's handwriting all over it...

bcareyletter

Pretty hard to deny that huh?!  The article goes on to say...

Carey-Shuler explained that Scruggs did not show her the draft with her handwritten notes when he questioned her this past September on two separate occasions. How Scruggs, a former federal prosecutor who sent mass murderer Yahweh Ben Yahweh to prison, could have missed a key piece of evidence is a total head scratcher. The drafts were in a box of files stored by the county after Carey-Shuler left office. The box was marked "Cafe Soul," the name of the property on NW 7th avenue Karym was going to renovate with the grants. In other words, it was readily available when Scruggs subpoenaed hundreds of county records pertaining to the $50,000 that went to Karym.

And here's the best bit...

When Raben asked her if she had been tricked or misled to redirect the $50,000 to Karym, Carey-Shuler's response was "no."

You have to wonder, was the exclusion of this draft version of the letter simply an oversight by the prosecutor preparing the case or was it a calculated dirty trick designed to mislead?  Carey-Shuler goes on to say...

When Raben asked her if she had been tricked or misled to redirect the $50,000 to Karym, Carey-Shuler's response was "no."

Now consider the magnitude of this "new" evidence, would there have been a case if this letter was made public before?  Could charges have been brought against Spence-Jones if the state couldn't allege that the Carey-Shuler letter was a forgery?  Wouldn't you think that the state should have used an abundance of caution before bringing charges against ANYONE let alone a public figure like Spence-Jones?  After all this draft of the letter that the state alleges was a forgery was in the evidence that they subpoenaed!

I'm sure your asking yourselves, what does this have to do with our tales of mortgage fraud?  Sadly dear readers this exact same thing happened in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case.  We'll have to wait a little while before we can discuss.  This certainly doesn't look good for Prosecutor Scruggs!