The Auditor (did Peter Paul's smoking gun Hillary tape stop Noel Hillman's nomination?)

star ledger ^ | 5-14-07 | staff

[freekitty]

Why in the world would the President consider even the nomination of this man?

[freekitty]

I would sure like to know why that US Atty hid the evidence during the trial.

[doug from upland]

Maybe he’ll get to answer that question under oath. :)

[doug from upland]

Hillman seems to be in the middle of a lot of stuff.

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Judge rebukes USA for stonewalling Utah man investigating brother’s death
By Keith Coffman
Special to The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 05/09/2007 02:47:51 PM MDT

Posted: 2:48 PM- DENVER - An appellate judge on Wednesday rebuked government officials for their actions against Jesse Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney who has sued to learn how and why his brother died in federal custody after the Oklahoma City bombing.
“The federal government doesn’t look very good in this matter,” said Judge Robert Henry during oral arguments at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trentadue is appealing the dismissal of a complaint he filed against the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, an agency charged with investigating alleged wrongdoing by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In his lawsuit, Trentadue alleges that federal prosecutors tried to indict him on obstruction of justice charges to dissuade him from pursuing claims that his brother, Kenneth, did not commit suicide, as authorities ruled, but was killed instead by overzealous interrogators probing the Oklahoma City bombing. He is also seeking records from the government related to the attempted indictment.
Trentadue told the three-judge panel that while the case is personal, the issue of the government’s denial of records under the Freedom of Information Act is an important matter of public policy.
“Citizens deserve to know what the government is up to,” he said.
In 2005, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins ordered Noel Hillman, a top official for the council, to appear before him to explain why the agency was taking so long to review files in the case. But Jenkins rescinded the order three months later. It was after that, Trentadue said, when his case “collapsed” and he was denied access to a report on why the case was dropped.
But Justice lawyer Peter Maier argued that exemptions allowed under the law are necessary to ensure that “unvarnished input” is allowed in the course of investigations.
“The reason for the privilege is to promote candor,” Maier said. “This [report] was not a dry recitation of the facts but the candid input of the writer.”
Maier conceded that the government had made mistakes in the case and that he was “sympathetic” to the Trentadue family, but the judges should uphold the dismissal of the suit. “At some point, the grievance process has to end,” he said.
Trentadue has waged a legal battle on several fronts against the federal government to glean information about the death of his 44-year-old brother, Kenneth Trentadue, a convicted bank robber, who was arrested in San Diego in June 1995 for an alleged parole violation. His arrest came two months after the bombing that killed 168 at the federal building in Oklahoma City.
On Aug. 21, two days after he was taken to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, prison guards found Trentadue’s bloodied body hanging in his cell from a noose made of torn bed sheets. Authorities ruled the death a suicide.
Jesse Trentadue contends his brother - who resembled Richard Lee Guthrie, an alleged accomplice of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh - was beaten to death during an interrogation by investigators who mistook him for Guthrie.
Wednesday’s hearing was the second appearance Trentadue has made before the appellate court this year related to his brother’s death. In January, he argued against the government’s request to overturn a federal judge’s $1.1 million award to the family. That decision is pending.
To comment on this story, write to pmanson@sltrib.com