Posted on 01/07/2005 1:15:07 PM PST by srm913
US judge hits Leung prosecution
David Rosenzweig
January 8, 2005
Charging prosecutors with willful and deliberate misconduct, a US federal judge has dismissed all criminal charges against a former FBI informant accused of serving as a double agent for the mainland.
In a sharply worded ruling, United States District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper on Thursday blasted the US Attorney's office for ``conduct unbecoming a prosecutorial agency.''
Lawyers for Chinese-American businesswoman Katrina Leung had accused the government of illegally and unethically exacting a commitment from her former FBI handler that barred him talking to the defense.
The pledge was contained in an agreement that retired agent James Smith reached with the government this year allowing him to plead guilty to a reduced charge of failing to report his 20-year affair with Leung. Under long established rules, prosecutors are prohibited from obstructing a defendant's access to witnesses.
At a hearing before Cooper last month, Assistant US Attorney Michael Emmick disavowed any intent to prevent Smith from speaking to Leung's defense team. He blamed ``inartful'' language in Smith's plea agreement.
But Cooper cited a November 18 e-mail message to Emmick from Robert Wallace, senior trial counsel in the Justice Department's counterintelligence section in Washington, saying that the wording was aimed at ``preventing Smith from being interviewed by Leung's counsel because he is a repository of classified information.''
``In the face of that e-mail,'' Cooper wrote, ``anything short of an admission and apology on the part of the government is hard to imagine. Emmick did neither. Rather, he chose to ignore the e-mail.''
The plea agreement clause in dispute specified that Smith would engage in ``no further sharing of information relating to this case with Leung, counsel for Leung or the employees of counsel for Leung.''
Cooper said the evidence is abundantly clear that the clause was intentionally placed in the agreement to prevent Smith from talking to the defense.
And to make matters worse, she said, the prosecution subsequently engaged in a series of explanations and denials that ``compounds the problem by undermining the court's confidence in the integrity of the process.''
US Attorney Debra Yang issued a statement denying any prosecutorial misconduct.
Leung's lawyers, John Vandevelde and Janet Levine, said they were gratified with the dismissal. They described Leung as a loyal American.
Leung, a naturalized citizen, was recruited by Smith during the early 1980s to gather intelligence for the FBI during her frequent business trips to China, where she ingratiated herself with high-ranking government officials.
But starting about 1990, prosecutors said, she began working for the Chinese as well, feeding sensitive information about the FBI to her handler at the Ministry of State Security. Smith learned about her activities but covered them up and continued to vouch for her reliability, he admitted in his plea deal.
Leung was not charged with espionage but with illegally copying and possessing classified documents.
United States District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper (Clinton Appointee)
City College of San Francisco, 1971
Born in Canada, and trained in San Francisco is there any wonder that she would side with a communist?
These people want to nuke us.
I don't see how bungling equates to "handling with kid gloves." The prosecution committed an egregious violation of basic legal tenets (the Sixth Amemdment to the U.S. Constitution, specifically) by charging Leung using testimony from a source it then attempted to shield from cross-examination and possible impeachment. If Leung is guilty, the government can arrange for the sequestration of classified information during the testimony. Anyone who has a problem with a defendant being allowed to be confronted by a witness and to cross-examine that witness is basically arguing for a kangaroo court.
Another Chinese spy case "accidentally" bungled. But Bush's path of intelligence reform is wrong! /sarc
I am against shady dealings by prosecutors in any way, even in espianoge cases.
Most of these types of cases would result in a conviction anyway, so it is better to play it straight.
Ping
Nominated by William J. Clinton on July 14, 1999, to a seat vacated by Linda H. McLaughlin; Confirmed by the Senate on November 10, 1999, and received commission on November 15, 1999. source
1999 was a busy year for Clinton.
And Senator Depends will tell us she is representative of the mainstream. /sarcasm
If the case was good enough for a conviction (which it probably was), why would a prosecutor be stupid enough to allow a plea agreement which is in obvious violation of the Sixth Amendment? More importantly, why is this prosecutor not currently applying as a greeter at Walmart?
I'm sure she doesn't want to chance testimony that would make Clinton look bad, so she just lets the spy go.
They can't play it straight with no-bodies, how are they gonna control themselves when the big fish come?!?!?!?!?
That's the type of thing they do everyday!! There is no more "American justice system" or even an "American legal system" it's now the "American financial confiscation and internment program"
Stench from the bench.
Lee, in my opinion, was a Clinton victim, used as a smokescreen scapegoat to deflect from Chinagate and loss of important waepons info. He was a Billy Dale. His case was not thrown out and was eventually dropped as a plea bargain due to lack of evidence. Evidence against leung, on the other hand, is apparently clear and the context of her associations are supportive of her apparent role as a double agent.
It seems stupid to let her off rather than fire or reprimand the misconduct of the DA's office.
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