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Jefferson Argues Prosecutors Picked Virginia Venue to Ensure White Jury
From The AP:
Rep. William Jefferson accused the Justice Department of bringing corruption charges against him in Virginia to reduce the chance of drawing black jurors.Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat who has been charged in an international bribery case, made the argument Friday in federal court documents seeking to move the case to Washington.
"The court has an obligation to ensure that the forum selection in this case was not tainted by racially discriminatory motive," Jefferson's attorney, Robert P. Trout wrote.
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Comments (7)
The current Aministration's happy horse hockey with the U.S. Attorneys/Department of Justice is so going pooch the justice system for years to come. When we can't deal with real malfeasence becuase they so SNAFU'd the system, my heart breaks.
On the other hand, good on Jefferson for standing up for his . . . and indirectly our rights. I hope that he will receive the punishment he deserves for violating the public's trust BUT I want it to be because justice did its job and NOT because some jack-booted thugs perverted the system.
September 7, 2007 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's do a compare and contrast.
Take a look at the Lewis probe. There the Justice Department is playing starve the beast by cutting the budget. Oh, Lewis is a Republican
Now lets us look at the Jefferson case. The Justice Department is attempting to cherry pick a site for the trial that would pretty much assure a guilty verdict. While I hove no problem with finding Jefferson guilty based on the evidence in front of an impartial jury that jury should be seated in the same jurisdiction as where the crime is alledged to have taken place. If this criteria has been met then Jefferson has no complaint. If this criteria has not been met then shame on the Justice Department. Outwardly this looks like a gross double standard, showing that the Justice Department is still being used for political ends. That needs to stop.
September 7, 2007 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
anyone remember "hi tech lynching"?
September 8, 2007 3:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how often the FBI uses this tactic of picking a convenient site to do a sting operation in for the purpose of a little venue-shopping.
Sounds like something an attorney in a U.S. Attorney's office would be more concerned about than an FBI special agent.
September 8, 2007 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just a side note item of interest on this matter: the mayor of Alexandria, VA, where this trial will be held, is William Euille.
He's African-American.
September 8, 2007 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is worth noting that the Scooter Libby jury--sitting in DC--was mostly white.
I agree that the government is engaged in some reprehensible forum-shopping. But I'm not sure it's about race-stacking the jury. NoVa juries are just more generally prone to convict than DC juries.
Like everybody else on this thread, I hope that Jefferson becomes a guest of the US Dept of Corrections for a number of years, after a fair trial. I just don't like forum-shopping by prosecutors.
September 9, 2007 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hate corruption
September 24, 2007 6:32 AM | Reply | Permalink