Justice Department Misconduct Conference in DC June 26
June 24th, 2009National Press Club to Host Speakers Including Conyers, Clemon, Horton and Siegelman
U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) is scheduled to keynote an unprecedented press conference June 26 about misconduct allegations against the U.S. Department of Justice. The 8 to 11 a.m. forum will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Experts from Congress and federal courts along with defendants and legal commentators will discuss evidence before the Judiciary Committee that the Bush administration targeted defendants on the basis of political beliefs.
Evidence includes the fact that elected Democrats were seven times more likely to be investigated than Republican officials.
Confirmed speakers for Friday’s forum will include Alabama’s former Governor Don Siegelman, a Democrat who was convicted on corruption charges during a second trial in 2006. The next year, a Republican whistle-blower provided evidence of a conspiracy to eliminate Siegelman from politics.
Retired Chief U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon of Birmingham will discuss his recent letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder saying that Siegelman’s first prosecution was “the most unfounded criminal case over which I presided during my entire judicial career” of nearly 30 years.
Law professor and Harper‘s columnist Scott Horton, among the first and most vehement critics of the prosecutions, will discuss why the recently dismissed convictions of GOP Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska was a political prosecution also. The Alaskan’s prosecutor is among top DoJ leaders invited to speak.
Former Georgia State Sen. Majority Leader Charles Walker’s 10-year sentence will be on the agenda as well. Last month, his 2005 trial judge recused himself after Walker proved an appearance of bias. Earlier, DoJ forced the resignation of the first prosecutor for misconduct. On Friday, Walker’s son Charles “Champ” Walker plans to announce a national campaign to protest mistreatment of similar defendants around the nation.
“These cases must be investigated,” says Walker, a former congressional candidate. “The biggest scandal in American politics is prosecution misconduct against Democrats, which is as indefensible as racial bias.”
Confirmed speakers include: Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), chair of Judiciary’s crime and competition subcommittee; former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, twice acquitted in prosecutions that imprisoned trial lawyer Paul Minor; Puerto Rico State Senate Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia (D), representing acquitted former Gov. Anibal Acevedo; Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron; Project Save Justice Executive Director Gail Sistrunk, discussing the group’s video, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove”; Investigative reporter Andrew Kreig; and McClendon Group President John Hurley.
“The lid is coming off deep, dark secrets,” says Hurley, a former staff aide to the late White House correspondent Sarah McClendon. “This is an opportunity to learn about some of the nation’s most important and controversial recent investigations of official corruption.”
Sponsors include such civil rights groups as Alliance for Justice, Project Save Justice, and Velvet Revolution US. Registration is free. Reporters can arrange interviews with speakers.
“This conference is vital to acquainting the public with DOJ misconduct,” said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, author of the definitive book, Prosecutorial Misconduct.
To learn more, peruse the most extensive archive on the case on the Web Press.
For more information about the press conference, hit the Web site of The Sarah McClendon Group: PoliticalProsecutions.org.
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June 24th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
The National Press Club videotapes its events, so this should appear at some point shortly after the forum at https://www.press.org/. Scroll down on the lefthand side to NPC Event Videos.
I am not sure how quickly NPC posts event videos. Some DC organizations post within hours, others take a day or two. My guess is that the Conyers-Siegelman video will be posted by Monday June 29 — but again, that’s a guess.
This is huge. Media coverage should be extensive since NPC is the premier organization for DC news folk. I would not be surprised to see CSPAN running it live on Friday with the usual slice-and-dice from Morning Joe, Andrea Mitchell, Wolf Blitzer, etc. as the day goes by.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Breaking News Update: We just got word that Siegelman will not be able to make the event. One of the motions in his appeal is due Friday and he has to meet with attorneys about some new evidence, allegedly.
Stay tuned…
June 25th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
The updated press release…
Media Advisory for 8 a.m. Friday June 26 Forum
At the National Press Club, Washington, DC
Major Forum June 26 On Selective DoJ Prosecution
To Feature Victims & Rep. Conyers On June 26 In DC
June 25, 2009 – An unprecedented conference June 26 at the National Press Club about misconduct by the U.S. Department of Justice will feature prominent officials as well as victims whose compelling stories were captured by filmmaker John McTiernan in his recent documentary, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove.”
The video by Project Save Justice features experts who say that federal prosecutors targeted hundreds of defendants around the nation primarily for political reasons.
The scheduled keynote speaker is U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr (D-MI), whose committee is preparing to interview former White House strategist Karl Rove following a nearly two-year legal battle to force Rove’s cooperation. The Committee’s majority staff issued a report last year citing evidence of politics in investigations. Elected Democrats were seven times more likely to be investigated than GOP officials, according to a leading study.
Calling for more Congressional oversight and community action across the U.S. Friday will be Charles “Champ” Walker, son of the former Georgia State Sen. Majority Leader Charles Walker. Since 2005 the elder Walker has been serving a 10-year term on corruption charges. Last month, the elder Walker won recusal of his 2005 federal trial judge for appearance of bias.
Retired Chief U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon of Birmingham will discuss at Friday’s forum his recent letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder saying that former Alabama Gov. Don. Siegelman’s first trial was “unfounded.” Investigative reports by Alabama journalist Roger Shuler this week documented further questions about the fairness of Siegelman’s second trial.
Law professor and Harper’s columnist Scott Horton will present new evidence of scandal involving U.S. attorneys fired during the Bush administrations. Also, he will also suggest why the government’s misconduct in the recently dismissed conviction of GOP Sen. Ted Stevens (AK) was political.
Department of Justice leaders have been invited to respond but have not designated a representative. In general, they have maintained that their prosecutions were mostly in compliance with legal standards and ethics.
The victim stories by McTiernan portray a different story, including accounts of orchestrated leaks to the press of damaging information by prosecutors and collusion by friendly judges to secure convictions against designated targets. Among the video subjects speaking at Friday’s conference will be former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz, Jr. and Puerto Rico State Senator & Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia (D), representing former Gov. Anibal Acivedo. Both Diaz and Acivedo were acquitted following highly publicized DoJ corruption investigations that affected the politics of their regions. McTiernan was himself accused in 2006 of lying to an FBI agent who called his home regarding Hollywood investigator Anthony Pellicano.
“The lid is coming off deep, dark secrets,” says John Edward Hurley, a former staff aide to the late White House correspondent Sarah McClendon. “This is an opportunity to learn about some of the nation’s most important and controversial recent investigations of official corruption.” The McClendon Group, a speaker society, is host for the event. Sponsors include Alliance for Justice, Project Save Justice, and Velvet Revolution US.
“This conference is vital to acquainting the public with DOJ misconduct,” comments Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, author of the definitive book, “Prosecutorial Misconduct.”
June 27th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I wonder if Conyers will be there, after all his wife just plead guilty to bribery and corruption charges in Detroit. Also, Conyers has refused to investigate corruption charges against ACORN, and Eric Holder, Obama’s racist AG, through out a conviction against 3 members of the New Black Panther Party, for voter intimidation, suppression, despite the fact that it was witnessed by a member of Bobby Kennedy’s Civil Rights division, Bartle Bull, who said it was the worst example a threat to civil rights that he’d ever witnessed.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I guess you know by now he wasn’t there. Not sure if that had anything to do with it or not, since the official reason was the House was still in session passing the Climate bill…