BACKGROUND: ... prosecution misconduct allegations by Tamarah Grimes, a paralegal with the Justice Department for six years in Alabama before she was fired in June. Her firing occurred June 9, eight days after she sent a letter to Attorney Gen. Eric Holder amplifying her 2007 allegations of misconduct by the prosecution in winning the conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman on corruption charges.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Explosive-OpEd-News-Interv-by-Andrew-Kreig-090915-223.htmlhttp://estrinlegaled.typepad.com/Andrew Kreig: Tami, the Siegelman case was becoming the nation’s most controversial federal criminal prosecution of the decade around the time you brought your internal complaints to DoJ in 2007. These controversies included a demand by the House Judiciary Committee for Karl Rove’s testimony. The demand came after a sworn claim that his friend William Canary approached him to target the Democrat Siegelman to remove defendant from Alabama politics. Other reports tied Rove to a 2006 purge of U.S. attorneys to create additional “loyal Bushies” in these powerful posts. Many questions about the prosecution from outside experts included a CBS 60 Minutes report in February 2008 entitled, “Did Ex-Alabama Governor Get A Raw Deal?” It quoted a Republican co-chairman of John McCain’s Presidential campaign as saying that Siegelman’s prosecution was clearly political. You are a Republican, with extensive experience in litigation support. That included 18 years in the private sector before your six years with DoJ. What was DoJ’s reaction to you and your concerns about potential misconduct by prosecutors in winning corruption convictions against Siegelman and co-defendant Richard Scrushy?
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2009/09/tamarah-grimes-slams-siegelman-prosecutors-must-read-interviewFROM TODAY:http://www.opednews.com/articles/Part-Two-More-Collateral-by-Joan-Brunwasser-091009-884.html- snip -
Is there anything we didn't cover that you'd like to bring to our readers' attention? Joan, my family and I have been through so much over the past two years. It is disheartening to read articles like the one that appeared on the Main Justice site, touting that a "second" investigation refuted all of my claims. There is no second investigation. It is all the same investigation, conducted by DOJ, utilizing its career prosecutors, with no sworn statements and the leading testimony. Basically, the OSC report of September 29, 2009 is a regurgitation of the same material released in November 2008, with an addition of interviews from the U.S. Marshal Service whose career progression falls under the Department of Justice.
I have been called a "coward" and a liar by federal prosecutors Louis Franklin, Steve Feaga and J.B. Perrine because I have not given testimony under oath. As these career prosecutors well know, I am prohibited by statute (18 USC 207) from giving testimony under oath to any court or federal on behalf of any party other than the United States in any matter in which I had substantial participation. This is a lifetime prohibition. I can only surmise that calling me names for not testifying under oath was an attempt to provoke me into breaking the law so that they could attempt a third criminal prosecution against me. Are these the actions of honest and ethical federal prosecutor who hold themselves to a higher standard as representatives of the Department of Justice - or are these representative of the less-than-honorable conduct these prosecutors have exhibited all along?
Only Congress has oversight authority over DOJ. I reach out to Congress and humbly request the opportunity to give my testimony, under oath, before Congress. I request that Congress order an independent investigation of the selective prosecutions and attempted selective prosecutions in the Middle District of Alabama. Nothing short of a full blown Congressional inquiry, conducted by career investigators, not federal prosecutors whose livelihood is connected to the entity under investigation will begin to chip away at the carefully constructed façade. Elections have consequences. I, for one, would like to see some proof of that. So far, the Department of Justice continues to conduct business just as it did in the previous administration.
Update: The hearing was held Wednesday to determine whether Tamarah should be denied her unemployment compensation, as the Justice Department maintains. Bring us up to speed, Tamarah.The Department of Justice had two attorneys representing the agency: Kimya Jones and Stuart Melnick of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Office of General Counsel. I have actually worked directly with Mr. Melnick in the past in my collateral duty role as an EEO investigator for the agency.
The agency is trying to have my unemployment benefits revoked on the basis of Section 25-4-78(3)(c) Code of Alabama 1975 which states that an employee is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if the employee was terminated for work-related misconduct.
Jones informed the hearing officer that the agency did not intend to present testimony, there would be no witnesses and the agency intended to rely upon documents which were submitted to the unemployment office on September 26, 2009. My attorney, Scott Boudreaux, moved for a dismissal of the appeal because he had not been served with a copy of the documents. Also, it is impossible to cross-examine a document. Jones, fired back, "Ms. Grimes has copies of all the documents in this case! She should have provided the documents to her attorney!"
Even if I knew which documents Ms. Jones was referencing, the burden is on the agency to pursue its appeal. How typically arrogant of the agency to suggest that I should "know" what documents Ms. Jones intends to use or that I have some responsibility to work against my own interest.
Mr. Boudreaux then offered a great point. The agency claims to have terminated me for cause. Do they intend to use my "outstanding" performance reviews? My performance-based awards? The letters of appreciation from DOJ staff for my services as an instructor at the DOJ training facility in Columbia, SC? The letters of appreciation from DOJ staff for my services as a collateral duty EEO investigator? Do they intend to use my whistleblower complaints? My EEO complaints? A copy of the statute governing confidentiality with the mediator under 5 U.S.C. 574? The sworn statements regarding the discussions in the bar at the Embassy Suites Hotel during an active EEO mediation from Leura Canary, Patricia Watson and the agency mediator, Sharon Stokes, an Assistant United States Attorney from Atlanta? The two declinations of criminal prosecution from Assistant United States Attorney Melvin Hyde from Columbus, Georgia for "false statements made to the mediator during an EEO mediation?" A copy of the envelope sent to me within the past month with the words, "Open only in the presence of an inmate" prominently displayed across the front?
The hearing was continued to allow the agency to serve a copy of the documentation it intends to use to prove work-related misconduct.
I will be very interested to see the documents upon which the agency intends to rely. My own Freedom of Information Act request for information related to any criminal investigative files pertaining to me, including any attempted criminal prosecution of me, has been delayed by the agency for "up to nine months." I am an exemplary employee, with no discipline record. What could possibly take more than one year (including the time which has elapsed since I filed the initial FOIA request) to copy? If the agency has nothing to hide, why not respond to my FOIA request right now?
How long will the Attorney General allow this to go on? Will there ever be a point in which someone in the new administration steps up on this issue?
They are definitely trying to wear me down. I guess it never occurred to them that since I am unemployed - and unemployable in my normal occupation - I can work 24/7 in pursuit of my claims. But it is not possible to wear me down on issues as emotional as these.
MORE AT LINK
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
