Prosecutors Blast Wecht's "Relentlessly Dishonest Onslaught"

U.S. Attorney Buchanan & Doctor Wecht

Here are some highlights from the government's latest brief opposing a Dr. Cyril Wecht's motion for dismissal of the indictment against him.  This brief responds to the the defense claims of misconduct by the prosecution.  In the conclusion, the government again hints that it may seek a jury from outside the Pittsburgh area for the second trial.

It begins with this:

There is a risk for those who have been subjected to the full extent of Wecht's ongoing campaign of obfuscation, misdirection, half-truth, misstatement and outright falsehood -- a risk of becoming numb to the repeated false assertions or, worse yet, ceasing to be vigilant in the face of the relentlessly dishonest onslaught. However, the government will labor, yet again, to correct the record that Wecht's truthless motion would otherwise distort beyond recognition.

...contains these comments:

...Wecht's accusations are not only false, but knowingly so...

...Yet sensational accusations like these make good copy, regardless of their truth....

....On what basis do Wecht's lawyers, as officers of the Court, level this serious accusation of prosecutorial misconduct? No basis whatsoever. Wecht and his lawyers have made it out of whole cloth. It is a fabrication, nothing more.

....Wecht's accusation...is based entirely upon lies.

....I. Wecht's Entire Motion is Based Upon Falsehoods....

...The argument is based upon several outright fallacies....

...II. Wecht's Eight Other False Accusations of Prosecutorial Misconduct....

...The lack of truth in these accusations is apparent to anyone familiar with these proceedings. One is left to wonder, yet again, for whose benefit is Wecht writing?...

...and ends with this:

Conclusion

Perhaps nothing can preserve the public's right to a fair trial in this division of the Western District of Pennsylvania, in light of Wecht's relentless campaign of publicity and slander by false court filings. Yet this latest motion hits new lows -- including repulsive allegations of anti-Semitism, utterly false allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and other baseless ad hominem attacks -- and should be denied.

Mary Beth Buchanan

United States Attorney

by: s/Stephen S. Stallings

Assistant U.S. Attorney

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Wecht Case Intermezzo

Here are some selected pages from prosecution and defense briefs filed this week in the case of former coroner Doctor Cyril Wecht.

These provide a window on some exchanges between the opponents as they prepare for the planned second trial.

For each of the selections, click to enlarge.

First, from the prosecution:








From the defense:

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Mistrial Day Zero: The Wecht Trial Reloaded

Welcome to any readers following my Pittsburgh Channel blogging of the Wecht trial who are new to my personal blog.

The mistrial brought an end to 35 working trial days...ten weeks in court...including 53 hours of deliberations over the course of three of those weeks. There are blog entries listed day by day at this link. The Pittsburgh Channel has video of my WTAE Channel 4 Action News report, as well some raw video of Wecht's defense team.

Here are some quotes from Dr. Cyril Wecht and his attorneys made following the mistrial declaration.


Dr. Cyril Wecht:

• "The toll on my family has been horrendous."
• "We've been living under this cloud for all that time. The emotional drain has been absolutely unbelievable."
• "...the drain emotionally, personally, professionally and financially.."

• "How much I have been hurt, I'm sure that what I know of represents the tip of the iceberg, because most people are not going to call you and say I was going to consult you, but I can't."

• "We are going to continue to do whatever is necessary. I don't say that in a bold fashion with braggadocio. I'm just telling you what has to be done will be done."

• "If I have to spend the rest of my years, then so will it be."

• "We know where we're going and we know what we have to do. And we know where truth lies and we know where justice resides, and I'm sure that we shall reach those objectives."

• "We recognize what the ideology as well as the continuing pathogenesis of this sordid saga is, and there's nothing to be happy or comforted about."


Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, member of the Wecht legal team:

• "A nickle-dime prosecution when there is rampant crime, terrorism, other kinds of threats that affect the American people."

• "These charges clearly were not worthy of being brought in a federal criminal court."

• "The government has utterly failed to prove their case. And it's time in my view for these charges to be dismissed and for Dr. Wecht to be able to get on with his life."

• "The allegations of political influence in this case, about which I testified before the United States Congress -- the judge prohibited any inquiry into that in the course of this case."




Jerry McDevitt, Wecht defense attorney:

• "I thought what happened in that courtroom today was an utter disgrace. On every level, no matter how your measure it, it was one of the most bizarre endings to one of the most unfair trials ever conducted in Pittsburgh history."

• "To announce a retrial of Cyril Wecht this quickly was designed to make sure he would not have one day of respite from what has become a vindictive prosecution. Everybody in Pittsburgh knows it now."

• " 'Get ready for this again, Doctor Wecht.'  That is vindictive, that is mean spirited, and that is against everything United States attorneys in this country are supposed to be about."

• "It's hard to beat people that won't quit. We're not going to quit. Period. They didn't beat us this time. This makes us want to beat them even more the next time."

• "I think a federal judge ought to read the constitution, not cookie recipes.  Period."

• "Plying jurors with cookies and stuff like was done in this case. It's just one of the many, many irregularities that accompanied this trial, but sometimes I felt like I was at Sara Lee's Bakery, rather than a federal courtroom."



U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan (written statement):

• "We are committed to eliminating the culture of corruption that prevails when officials at the highest levels abuse the public trust. Allegations of wrongdoing by public officials can be both challenging to investigate and to prove. A deadlocked jury means only that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges presented. The government bears the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, each element of every count charged."

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The Wecht Trial -- A Sampler

Today is Day 13 of the Wecht Trial and while I've been blogging about the details from courtroom, I've also been writing about it here in my personal blog in the months leading up to it. They provide an interesting look into the thinking behind the questions that prosecution and defense attorneys are asking in the courtroom.

Here's a sampling of those posts. If you click on the pictures below, they'll take you to the individual entries.

Meanwhile, there are some interesting developments at the other end of Grant Street. Pittsburgh Comet Citizen journalist Bram Reichhbaum did some liveblogging himself from City Council chamber on the digital billboard controversy.

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Major Rulings In Wecht Case

U.S. Attorney Buchanan & Doctor Wecht

A federal judge is barring Doctor Cyril Wecht's defense team from trying to claim during his trial that his prosecution by U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan is politically motivated.

The order by Judge Arthur Schwab sets the stage for Wecht's federal trial in January on charges he used his public office for private gain while he was Allegheny County Coroner. It came as part of a ruling denying a pre-trial hearing on the defense claim there is a political motive behind the prosecution. The 84 count indictment of Wecht includes charges of mail fraud wire fraud, and theft of services.

In a separate court order, Judge Schwab ruled that there is no evidence that FBI Special Agent Brad Orsini falisified any evidence in the Wecht case. The judge refused to suppress evidence against Wecht in 29 boxes seized with a search warrant obtained by Agent Orsini.

Wecht's attorneys declined comment on the rulings.

Judge Schwab also issued an order for a jury pool of 400 potential jurors for Wecht's trial. They'll be summoned in groups of sixty to fill out jury questionnaires, on various dates leading up to the start of Wecht's trial on January 28th.


Here are some quotes from Judge Schwab's court orders:

• "Defendant is precluded from referencing or attempting to interject at trial matters relating to his accusations that this prosecution is motivated by politics."

• "There is no evidence on the record that Special Agent Orsini falsified any...FBI form in the case."

• "This court does not make personnel decisions for the FBI, and does not sit in judgement of its disciplinary proceedings or the punishments it metes out to errant agents."

• "Defendant would, in effect, have this Court find that the discipline imposed by the FBI and OPR was inadequate, and impose an additional sanction of prohibiting Special Agent Orsini from testifying in a court of law and disqualifying him from ever swearing an affidavit. In the absence of legal authority or factual basis, this Court cannot impose such an extraordinary, additional sanction for Special Agent Orsini's past transgressions".

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Crouching Lawyer, Hidden Attorney, Part 584: ...The Tale of the Snake

As I've said before: "following the Wecht case is like watching a martial arts film. As you read the court papers, you'll witness gleams of razor-sharp prose and rhetoric from lawyers on both sides."

Here then, are the first pages torn from the latest exchange. Clicking the images below will enlarge them.

From the prosecution:

"...In the fourth century, B.C., Aristotle first identified the logical problem of circular reasoning in Prior Analytics. Over two thousand years later, Wecht's lawyers have finally perfected the art of begging the question. To support the grave accusation that Mary Beth Buchanan, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, targeted Wecht for prosecution because of his political affiliation, Wecht's lawyers cite as "evidence" their own accusations that she did so. Rarely is the rhetorical snake so clearly seen swallowing its own tail as in this passage from p. 8 of Wecht's motion..."

From the defense:

"...the United States Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan ( Ms. Buchanan) evidently decided she did not, after all, want any part of a factual inquiry regarding whether her prosecution of Cyril Wecht, and associated failures to prosecute similarly situated Republicans, was motivated by political considerations on her part. Thus, Ms. Buchanan has now moved to strike the cross-motion of the defense for discovery and evidentiary hearings on the specific issue of whether she engaged in improper selective prosecution. In doing so, Ms. Buchanan attacks the views of Dick Thornburgh, who was the Attorney General of the United States under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as faux facts and lies being disseminated on the ECF filing system in this case..."

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FEMA Wants Answers On The Yukon

[The following is a long-form version of my TV report.]

Channel 4 Action News has learned that the federal government wants the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) to look into the city's uses of the GMC Yukon paid for with a federal Department of Homeland Security grant. Those uses included transporting Mayor Luke Ravenstahl for personal as well as city business, until he learned of restrictions imposed on the use of the undercover investigative unit police car.

The grant appears to limit the car's use to anti-terrorism efforts, specifically the surveillance of Pittsburgh locations that are potential terrorist targets. Federal guidelines say: "failure to comply may result in the withholding of funds, termination of the award, or other sanctions".

The Federal Emergency Management Agency-- part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security---tells Channel 4 Action News: "FEMA headquarters has asked PEMA for a full accounting of the situation including what actions pema has taken and what actions they plan to take."

The federal grant that paid for the car is for the "Buffer Zone Protection Program" (BZZP) . It's meant to "make it more difficult for terrorists to conduct surveillance or launch attacks on critical infrastructure and facilities."

After a police sergeant's repeated complaints up the chain of command, Mayor Ravenstahl stopped using the Yukon. Among his personal travels in the police vehicle was a trip with friends to a Toby Keith concert at the PG Pavilion in Washington County.

FEMA tells Channel 4 Action news that "the concert was not an allowable use of the vehicle." Spokeswoman Marlene Phillips says "FEMA headquarters expects the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) to look into the situation, report back to FEMA headquarters on its finding, and to take appropriate action." She says "it's part of PEMA's responsibility." Earlier this month, PEMA told Channel 4 Action News that the agency was simply "a channel" for the funding.

After Mayor Ravenstahl stopped using the Yukon, Police Chief Nate Harper still asserted that he can assign the vehicle for things other than those specified in the Homeland Security grant. On October 3rd, he asked reporters: "Are you saying that then I should let those vehicles sit, not utilize them, and leave the officers stand by to wait for a vehicle? we aren't going to do that".

FEMA tells Channel 4 Action News that "general use vehicles are not an allowable expense." Spokewoman Phillips says "this was an authorized purchase of a surveillance vehicle under the BZZP program. Under BZZP, allowable expenses include vehicles purchased for surveillance of critical infrastructure."

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Maria Finn tells Channel 4 Action News "this matter is under review and we will continue to work with FEMA. Pending the outcome of the review, PEMA will take those results into consideration and determine appropriate actions, if any".

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Mike Huss says "we've talked with PEMA since this first came out, where the mayor realized that the vehicle was purchased with homeland security monies. I immediately contacted PEMA and advised them of this situation and have been in contact with PEMA since this happened. They're aware of it. We've discussed it. They've asked us to maintain a log on use of the vehicle and these types of things. It's under their purview to look at the situation and take what action it feels necessary."

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan has said previously that her office is reviewing the situation. Her office says she has no comment on the status of that review.

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Digging Deeper: The Money & The Car

My review of the city's grant and the federal homeland security guidelines shows that the money used to buy the city police intelligence squad's GMC Yukon appears to have strict strings attached. It's specifically for protecting infrastructure from terrorists. (See video link in this Pittsburgh Channel story.)

The city's grant agreement to get the homeland security money makes it clear. The money used to buy the car that sometimes transported Mayor Ravenstahl was intended for the 'Buffer Zone Protection Program'. That means it's to be used to "protect and secure critical infrastructure and key resource sites across the country".




City officials signed a pledge that "The City of Pittsburgh agrees that all equipment received shall be used only for the purposes set forth".




Homeland security guidelines show examples of the suggested types of equipment and uses intended for the money. They include:

• biological, chemical, and radiation detection,
• explosives mitigation,
• and security systems.

The homeland security guidelines go a step further and spell out what it describes as "unallowable costs". It specifically says "unauthorized program expenditures.. include... general use vehicles".



The federal documents caution that the list of protected sites "will remain classified for security purposes". It makes no secret, however, that the intended use of the money is to "make it more difficult for terrorists to conduct surveillance or launch attacks".

[You can browse through the Program Guidelines and Application Kit here. I should caution you that it's a very large .pdf file.]

The homeland security department warns that:

• "it is the responsibility of the recipient to fully understand and comply with these requirements."

• "failure to comply may result in the withholding of funds, termination of the award, or other sanctions."

The city also agreed to provide federal and state agencies "the right to examine all records and documents that are related to BZPP equipment", and that "all equipment received is subject to audit by federal or state agencies". The city also agreed "to retain all cost-supporting records and documentation for a period of three years".

Public Safety Director Mike Huss responds that "the vehicle was part of the application and purchased by PEMA (the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency) [for the city]. They would not have purchased it if it were unallowable."

PEMA tells me that it's just a "channel" for the money. It also says that other policing assignments cannot share the car with the anti-terrorism effort, as Chief Harper has been suggesting.

I interviewed United States Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan Friday afternoon. She says:

• "Allegations of the mayor's alleged misuse of a vehicle have just come to the attention of my office. We're going to take a look at the purposes for the grant: what the specifications were, whether the purchase was an allowable purchase, and exactly what uses are permissible under the grant. Once We've had an opportunity to do that, we'll be in a much better position to determine whether there were any violations of the grant agreement."

• "There are a number of issues that my office could look at. We do play a role in coordinating homeland security functions within the region. ...The grants that have been made available to law enforcement and to municipalities around the country are very important and we must make every effort to make sure that these funds are being utilized properly. There are a number of issues that we're going to look at, and again it is premature to get into precisely what we'll do once we gather all the facts in this matter."

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Q&A: Mayor & Chief On The Yukon

Thanks to Chris Twomey of The Pittsburgh Channel for posting this raw video from reporters' Q&A with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Police Chief Nate Harper. You can look in by clicking here. I was going to post it as a podcast, but Chris kindly agreed to offer up the video.

One way or the other, I'll be blogging more about this story tomorrow. (I was off sick today.)



While not it does not pass judgment, the language in the statement from U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan is striking. Because the Homeland Security grant for purchase of the Yukon was federal funding, the United States Attorney's office has jurisdiction to examine whether there were violations of the terms of the grant.

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Judge Sends Wecht Dispute to Discipline Board

Judge Schwab

Thank goodness for electronic filing. I'm not talking about tax returns, I'm talking about electronic filing of court documents in the Wecht case. The policy has saved many trees from sacrificial deaths as quintuplicate copies filed in Pittsburgh federal court.

The Wecht case may be eons from coming to trial, but the parties have already generated 488 court documents. That's documents--not pages. Each of the documents may be dozens of pages, some with attached exhibits running for many pages themselves.

I blogged about "Crouching Lawyer, Hidden Attorney" and "Wecht Defense Team Strikes Back". I sat out coverage of the government's response-to-the-response (Document 486), and the defense's request to file a response-to-the-response-to-the-response (also known as "motion to file sur-reply to motion for sanctions", Document 487).

That brings us to Document 488--the judge's response to the flurry over U.S. Attorney Buchanan's call for Wecht's attorneys to be punished.

Judge Arthur J. Schwab has filed a court order referring this side-dispute to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's disciplinary board.

The judge writes:

• the question of whether or not comments by Wecht's lawyers violate court rules "is also of significant interest to attorneys admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to the public."

If the disciplinary board agrees to take over refereeing the sanctions battle, the inevitable Document 489 may move on to other issues in the Wecht case.

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Wecht Defense Team Strikes Back

As covered in this earlier post, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan is urging the judge presiding over former Coroner Cyril Wecht's public corruption trial to throw Wecht's lawyers into jail and suspend them from practicing law in federal court.

She's accusing Mark Rush and Jerry McDevitt of having "repeatedly lied to the court, lied to the media, breached their ethical obligations as lawyers and flaunted the orders of this court.

Wecht's lawyers argue that if their talking to the media deserves punishment by the court, that the U.S. Attorney's office could be subject to the same thing. In their response to Buchanan, McDevitt and Rush tell the judge:

• "The Motion is baseless. It is a hatchet job that is not worthy of the United States Attorneys office. We respectfully request that it be denied in its entirety. "

• "The prosecution's initial media blitz put Dr. Wecht in a devastatingly negative light..."
"The Motion seems to be utterly blind to the fact that if defense counsel's statements are regarded as sanctionable, the Government and its representatives are surely subject to the same or greater sanctions in light of their own conduct" ... "and their eagerness to put this case in the media spotlight at the earliest possible moment." "...Dr. Wecht reserves the right to file a cross motion for sanctions as appropriate..."

They also write that the prosecutors:

• "...are not attempting to jail counsel for telling lies. They are attempting to do so because it is the truth they fear."

Former U.S. Attorney general Dick Thornburgh is a member of Wecht's defense team. He's filed an affidavit under oath backing up statements made by McDevitt and Rush to the PG that triggered Buchanan's motion. Thornburgh says Buchanan had wanted to have Wecht arrested because she claimed he was "a flight risk to Israel". He also swears he had to go over Buchanan's head to a Justice Department official in Washington in order to keep Wecht from facing a 'perp walk' before news cameras. Click the image below to read that page from his sworn statement.


The Post-Gazette has already posted Thornburgh's complete affidavit online.

Wecht's attorneys say their public comments are protected free speech. The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment Friday on the latest filing by Wecht's lawyers.

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Crouching Lawyer, Hidden Attorney

U.S. Attorney Buchanan & Doctor Wecht

(Prologue: Following the Wecht case is like watching a martial arts film. As you read the court papers, you'll witness gleams of razor-sharp prose and rhetoric from lawyers on both sides. I'm highlighting some quotes here today but later I may post some of the court filings themselves, as I did in the McNeilly case. E-mail me if you're interested, and watch for a new post when Wecht's lawyers file their response in court.)



There are major developments in the battle between federal prosecutors and lawyers for former Coroner Doctor Cyril Wecht. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan has filed a court motion seeking sanctions and suggesting Wecht's lawyers deserve to be jailed or banned from practicing law in federal court.

She's accusing Wecht's lawyers of having:

• "repeatedly lied to the court, lied to the media, breached their ethical obligations as lawyers, violated the rules of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and flaunted the orders of this Court."

The motion charges that:
• "On or before June 6, 2007, Mr. Rush and Mr. McDevitt committed their latest, and perhaps most egregious, act of professional misconduct, displayed on the front page of the June 7, 2007, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette... In one fell swoop, Mr. Rush and Mr. McDevitt made improper extrajudicial statements about plea discussions and the merits of the case that were both knowingly false and substantially likely to prejudice the case, all the while violating some of the most basic and fundamental principles of professionalism."


At issue are statements by Wecht's lawyers Mark Rush and Jerry McDevitt, who are defending Wecht against public corruption charges. Wecht's lawyers claim the prosecution is political. In the latest court papers, Buchanan argues that the attorneys falsely told the Post-Gazette that her office was trying to reach a deal in the case because Buchanan was facing questioning by Congress.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Stallings signed and filed a sworn affidavit with the motion in which he not only rebuts the claims by Wecht's attorneys, but pledges "If I ever came to believe that this prosecution, or any prosecution I was involved in, was motivated by political considerations rather than justice considerations, I would resign from my post as Assistant United States Attorney."

(Click image to enlarge)

Wecht's attorneys tell me:

Mark Rush & Jerry McDevitt

• "We deny the allegations and look forward to putting forth the true set of facts before a tribunal about their conduct in this case."

They quote from a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the Wecht case that strikes down local federal court rules limiting the speech of attorneys. That opinion says:

• "Here, it is undisputed that Wecht’s attorneys are willing to speak about the case and that Local Rule 83.1 limits their ability to do so. To the extent that an occasion arises in the future where defense counsel desires to make public statements about the case, we believe the media and public have a legitimate interest in those comments not being inhibited by overly restrictive limitations."

Wecht's attorneys also say:

"The very first time we speak, they run into court and ask the judge to throw us into jail and suspend our licenses to practice law in federal court."

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