Way cleared for Congressman William Jefferson's D-La appeal (throw out 14 of 16 criminal charges)

NOLA ^ | 3/21/08 | Bruce Alpert

[Libloather]

Way cleared for Congressman Jefferson's appeal
by Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune
Friday March 21, 2008, 7:54 AM

WASHINGTON -- A judge's ruling Thursday should restart the stalled legal proceedings in Rep. William Jefferson's efforts to have a federal appeals court throw out 14 of 16 criminal charges against him.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III about grand jury documents is likely to free the Justice Department to ask the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., for expedited consideration of the New Orleans Democrat's appeal and allow that court to set dates for the filings of briefs and possibly for oral arguments.

**SNIP**

At issue before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is Jefferson's contention that Ellis erred when he rejected the congressman's plea to have 14 charges of racketeering, money laundering, bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy dismissed on grounds the grand jury that indicted him heard testimony about his legislative activities in violation of the Constitution's Speech or Debate clause. The clause is meant to protect Congress from Executive Branch interference.

Ellis had ruled that the testimony from current and former Jefferson staffers about his involvement in issues related to Africa didn't violate the Speech or Debate Clause. "Put simply, the Speech or Debate Clause is not a license to commit a crime, " he said.

**SNIP**

"Defendant's argument amounts to a claim that whenever a member of Congress is indicted the entire grand jury record must be reviewed even where, as here, there is no reason to believe either from the contents of the indictment or otherwise that Speech or Debate material was presented to or relied upon by the grand jury, " Ellis said.

[Libloather]

...is likely to take at least several months and could continue through the fall elections when Jefferson could be a candidate for re-election.

Operation CHAOS continues. Charges on Spitzer should pop up during this election year as well. RATS are setting themselves up for a very bad year.

[tomnbeverly]

Hey Obama Is Jefferson a Typical........

[Eric in the Ozarks]

He’s gonna walk.

[stevie_d_64]

Notice this is just an “effort” by his legal beagles to get 14 of 16 thrown out...There is no guarantee (that an appeal, even before the damn trial begins), unless the Federal Judge is a Clinton appointee...

Probably find out about that real soon...

Too bad there is not a DA in this case that will Tom DeLay this goober out of office...They only seem ready to do something when a procedure (or deadline) reaches critical mass...

I got to go hide some Easter eggs...You know, priorities today...

[From The Deer Stand]

Equal justice for all... except if you’re a congresscritter when your placed way above the common folk.

[jmaroneps37]

I say OOH RAH to this! Let this crooked rat continue in office because now that he has had to gnaw his tail off to get away, he won't be doing crooked shiite for a while. On the other hand, if we jail this guy, the ratmedia will forget about him and his “jury nullifying” district will just elect a new crook Black Democrat.

[Glenmore]

Yep, it’s a Louisiana tradition - bettter the crook you know than the one you don’t.

[listenhillary]

So you are guaranteed immunity if you can stash the bodies so to say in your congressional office?

[dfwgator]

Dennis Hastert is overjoyed!

[Condor51]

Nothing to see here, move on. Jefferson is just "A Typical ......", right senator Obama?

Ps: yo Barry, are you going to Grandma's today for Easter dinner???

[sanjacjake]

It’s disgusting..the crap that these people get
away with...He probably is buying a new refrigerator
with hidden compartments for his next score?? JK

[MarkT]

He will walk but it will be to jail. Book it.

[listenhillary]

Wait until they say their houses are their congressional offices and are off limits to searches as it would violate the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

$10 says he walks, maybe with probation and 25 hours of public service.

[muawiyah]

Dennis should have taken action to have the FBI agents who violated his authority over the Capitol building PUNISHED.

That failure is going to haunt this Republic until it becomes exactly like the Roman Empire with unbridled Executive Power.

[dfwgator]

Not only do we need term limits, I am more inclined to think we really need “Romanian” term limits.