Federal Judge Accuses DOJ Attorneys of Defrauding The Court, Threatening Witness ...

Townhall.com ^ | 1/26/2015 | Katie Pavlich

[Servant of the Cross]

Late last week reporter Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson published a piece about alleged serious misconduct and intimidation from DOJ attorneys during the trial and lawsuit of former ATF agent and whistleblower Jay Dobyns against the government.

One of the recently unsealed documents, a Dec. 1 opinion by Judge Allegra, finally explains why in October the judge voided his original decision, made in August, to award Dobyns $173,000. (He later reversed his decision to void the judgment, which still stands.) The reason: The judge believed that Justice Department attorneys had “committed fraud on the court.”

One area in which Allegra decided deception had occurred was in the treatment of Thomas Atteberry, the special agent in charge of ATF’s Phoenix office, and Carlos Canino, then the assistant special agent in charge of the agency’s Tucson office. In 2012, a Justice Department attorney, Valerie Bacon, asked both Atteberry and Canino not to reopen the investigation into the arson at Dobyns’ Tucson home because it could hurt the Justice Department’s defense in this case.

Atteberry and Canino were listed as witnesses in the case, but the judge didn’t hear about the DOJ effort to squelch the investigation until the trial, which he considered a concealment by the Justice Department. They went ahead and reopened the case, which remains unsolved, anyway.

More alarming was the other “fraud on the court” that Allegra cited: “An ATF agent who testified in this case may have been threatened by another witness during the trial.” Justice Department attorneys ordered the agent not to report the threat to the court or he would face repercussions, Allegra said.

[WayneS]

And he was “acting” AG under George W. Bush, for a couple of weeks in 2001, wasn’t he?

[MileHi]

You got me there, but the guy is like a bad penny.

[arthurus]

I suspect Dobyns will not survive to win his case.

[LeoMcNeil]

I’m not suggesting that an investigation shouldn’t take place. Rather, I’m suggesting that problems with the ATF appear to be systemic. All the more reason to investigate the agency.

[i_robot73]

ANOTHER dog-n-pony show? Another “bad things were done but NOBODY was to blame, so we’ll have to do SOMETHING to make sure it doesn’t happen again”?

Nobody ‘remembers’, nobody ‘recalls’, nobody arrested, nobody jailed and, worst of all, nobody FIRED

[stephenjohnbanker]

” Jarrett , Obama, and Holder all need to be prosecuted as soon as they leave office.”

Over 100 Obama criminals, including Lerner, will be pardoned, and many will get rich.

[GOPJ]

“An ATF agent who testified in this case may have been threatened by another witness during the trial.” Justice Department attorneys ordered the agent not to report the threat to the court or he would face repercussions, Allegra said.

Congress needs to take a look at this...

[veracious]

USA gov; gone wild.

[Grimmy]

The problem is that congressional investigations are nothing more than dog and pony shows meant only to entertain and dupe the public into thinking anyone in congress gives a damn about anything other than the bottom of their own bellies and the reach of their own gonads.

There is nothing on this planet more useless than a congressional/senate investigation.

[Steely Tom]

There is nothing on this planet more useless than a congressional/senate investigation.

Well now - and correct me if I'm wrong - I thought that a congressional/senate investigation is the main thing that caused Richard Nixon to become the first U.S. President in history to resign the office.

[Steely Tom]

That was certainly pretty useful to the party that controlled Congress at the time. Since they hated Nixon’s guts.