This blog is pleased to present another guest post from Mark Regan:
Fairbanks--
Why hasn’t Jerry Ward been prosecuted?
After all, Bill Weimar pled guilty in 2008 to crimes involving an “understanding” with Ward that if Weimar helped Ward retire his debt, Ward would support Weimar’s private prison proposal; the Feds told Ward back in November 2008 that he had become a target of their investigation; and a day or so after the Feds told Ward this, he apparently helped Dave Anderson send in complaints about the Ted Stevens investigation which included the claim that the Feds had promised immunity to a whole raft of people connected with Dave Anderson, including Jerry Ward, but then had gone back on their promise.
Problem # 1: The case against Ward might depend on the honest services statute. The core of Weimar’s plea was that he had conspired with Ward to deprive the public of Ward’s honest services, if and when Ward was elected. The U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to invalidate or at least drastically limit the honest services statute.
Problem # 2: Ward didn’t win the election. So maybe he never got into the position to deprive anyone of his honest services, or to do anything in response to an anticipatory bribe from Weimar.
Problem # 3: The federal prosecutors who are themselves being investigated are at the heart of the Ward/Anderson problem. Statements from them about Ward and Anderson, saying that they didn’t promise immunity to Ward or other people associated with Anderson, are all over the Ted Stevens court file. Maybe the replacement prosecutors don’t want to go ahead with an indictment of Ward until or unless the prior prosecutors are cleared of wrongdoing in the Ted Stevens case.
Problem # 3A: Maybe the Feds really did promise immunity to Jerry Ward. Weirder things have happened ... naaah.
Problem # 4: Maybe someone could indict Ward for preparing a false affidavit signed by Anderson, or for obstructing justice; but if the Polar Pen investigation is stalled, going after Jerry Ward for obstructing it might not be a politic thing to do.
--Mark Regan
Showing posts with label Jerry Ward. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jerry Ward. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Feds Used "Honest Services Fraud" Statute in Half of the "POLAR PEN" Cases
Washington—
Readers have asked what effect an elimination or trimming back of the “honest services fraud” statute at issue in Bruce Weyhrauch’s appeal on which the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument last week would have on the prosecutions in the Alaska investigation into public corruption.
Twelve people have been charged criminally in this investigation. Of those 12, six have been charged under the statute being challenged. In addition to former State Rep. Weyhrauch (R.-Juneau), those six are: former State Rep. Pete Kott (R.-Eagle River), who was acquitted of that charge at trial; Jim Clark, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Frank Murkowski; Bill Weimar, former private prisons magnate; former VECO CEO Bill Allen; and former VECO Vice President Rick Smith. By the same token, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, former State Rep. Vic Kohring (R.-Wasilla), former State Rep. Beverly Masek (R.-Willow), former State Sen. John Cowdery (R.-Anchorage), former State Rep. Tom Anderson (R.-Anchorage), and former lobbyist Bill Bobrick never faced an honest services fraud charge.
Of those six, only Weyhrauch has neither pleaded guilty or been tried already. The jury convicted Kott of other crimes while acquitting him of the charge of honest services fraud; whatever else happens while U.S. District Judge John Sedwick sorts out the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the trial, the acquittal means that Kott can’t be retried on that count. Allen and Smith pleaded guilty to multiple counts along with a single count each of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud as well as other crimes, and for a variety of reasons are unlikely to appeal based on a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Weimar has served the prison portion of his sentence, and also seems an unlikely candidate to try to rely on such a ruling. Clark has pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and depending on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the statute he might have a defense.
The uncertainty over the legal standing of the honest services fraud statute might also be affecting the Alaska corruption investigation by causing the Department of Justice to hold off on adding to the number of defendants. A reader has pointed out that this uncertainty may have helped block the prosecution against former State Sen. Jerry Ward (R.-Anchorage), whose unsuccessful 2004 legislative campaign has been identified in media accounts as the recipient of illegal campaign contributions from Weimar. The questions hanging over the future of the honest services fraud statute may also contribute to the reluctance of the feds to prosecute former State Senate President Ben Stevens (R.-Anchorage) and U.S. Rep. Don Young.
Readers have asked what effect an elimination or trimming back of the “honest services fraud” statute at issue in Bruce Weyhrauch’s appeal on which the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument last week would have on the prosecutions in the Alaska investigation into public corruption.
Twelve people have been charged criminally in this investigation. Of those 12, six have been charged under the statute being challenged. In addition to former State Rep. Weyhrauch (R.-Juneau), those six are: former State Rep. Pete Kott (R.-Eagle River), who was acquitted of that charge at trial; Jim Clark, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Frank Murkowski; Bill Weimar, former private prisons magnate; former VECO CEO Bill Allen; and former VECO Vice President Rick Smith. By the same token, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, former State Rep. Vic Kohring (R.-Wasilla), former State Rep. Beverly Masek (R.-Willow), former State Sen. John Cowdery (R.-Anchorage), former State Rep. Tom Anderson (R.-Anchorage), and former lobbyist Bill Bobrick never faced an honest services fraud charge.
Of those six, only Weyhrauch has neither pleaded guilty or been tried already. The jury convicted Kott of other crimes while acquitting him of the charge of honest services fraud; whatever else happens while U.S. District Judge John Sedwick sorts out the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the trial, the acquittal means that Kott can’t be retried on that count. Allen and Smith pleaded guilty to multiple counts along with a single count each of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud as well as other crimes, and for a variety of reasons are unlikely to appeal based on a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Weimar has served the prison portion of his sentence, and also seems an unlikely candidate to try to rely on such a ruling. Clark has pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and depending on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the statute he might have a defense.
The uncertainty over the legal standing of the honest services fraud statute might also be affecting the Alaska corruption investigation by causing the Department of Justice to hold off on adding to the number of defendants. A reader has pointed out that this uncertainty may have helped block the prosecution against former State Sen. Jerry Ward (R.-Anchorage), whose unsuccessful 2004 legislative campaign has been identified in media accounts as the recipient of illegal campaign contributions from Weimar. The questions hanging over the future of the honest services fraud statute may also contribute to the reluctance of the feds to prosecute former State Senate President Ben Stevens (R.-Anchorage) and U.S. Rep. Don Young.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Judge Sedwick Turns Up the Heat on the Feds and Suggests that Bill Allen and Rick Smith Will Go to Prison Soon
Anchorage--
It looks like it's time for the feds to put up or shut up.
Tired of long delays and apparently dismayed by the prosecution’s errors in other cases in the Alaska public corruption investigation, District Court Judge John Sedwick has set a date for sentencing admitted bribers Bill Allen and Rick Smith.
Orders issued this week name October 28 as the day that the two disgraced VECO executives will face justice for their bribery of Alaska legislators.
Since Allen and Smith pleaded guilty to several crimes in May of 2007, the judge had granted five requests by government lawyers to put off sentencing for the pair. The court allowed the delays so that the bribers could cooperate with the prosecution in building cases against other defendants in the “POLAR PEN” probe.
But now the judge has had enough, and has denied a request for a sixth extension. Judge Sedwick cited several reasons for putting his foot down now. The judge observed that the crimes of the pair are serious and “involve the integrity of the political process in the State of Alaska.” Those crimes occurred some time ago—some were back in 2002. The public has a substantial interest in seeing the imposition of sentence for these crimes.
The court pointed to practical factors as well. The federal government has had more than two years to get whatever they can get out of Allen and Smith to use in prosecuting others. What’s more, it appears that everybody who could get indicted was known at the time the two pleaded guilty.
Judge Sedwick didn’t say it, but at least one of those potential future indictees was named in sworn testimony. Allen and Smith have stated under oath that they bribed former State Senate President Ben Stevens (R.-Anchorage) while testifying in the trials of former State Reps. Pete Kott (R.-Eagle River) and Vic Kohring (R.-Wasilla).
Hanging over the judge’s orders announcing the sentencing date for the former VECO executives was his obvious exasperation with the errors of prosecutors that led to Kott and Kohring walking around free today along with former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska). Failures to provide discovery of evidence to defense attorneys forced onto Judge Sedwick the task of sorting out what to do in the cases against Kott and Kohring, and prosecutorial misconduct famously produced the setting aside of the guilty verdicts against Ted Stevens.
The judge offered one opening for the prosecutors to avoid the sentencing of the pair on October 28, but he signaled that opening is small indeed. If the government files a detailed request under seal giving the name and the date for each indictment that will rely on information from the VECO executives, the judge said that he would consider granting another delay past October 28.
The strong feeling you get from reading these orders, however, is that sentencing for Allen and Smith will occur on October 28. The pair can come in from prison and testify at later trials and still request reduced punishment based on that additional cooperation even after they have been sentenced.
Judge Sedwick’s tough new stand will tend to force the government’s hand regarding
additional prosecutions in “POLAR PEN.” The testimony of Allen and Smith figures to be critical in any trials of future defendants, and prosecutors might see the pair as likely to be more cooperative--and perhaps less unsavory--if they are not on temporary release from federal prison when they go on the witness stand. We will likely find out sooner rather than later whether the figures most frequently fingered as being the next to face criminal charges in that probe—including Ben Stevens, U.S. Rep. Don Young (R.-Alaska), and former State Sen. Jerry Ward (R.-Anchorage)—will actually be prosecuted.
It looks like it's time for the feds to put up or shut up.
Tired of long delays and apparently dismayed by the prosecution’s errors in other cases in the Alaska public corruption investigation, District Court Judge John Sedwick has set a date for sentencing admitted bribers Bill Allen and Rick Smith.
Orders issued this week name October 28 as the day that the two disgraced VECO executives will face justice for their bribery of Alaska legislators.
Since Allen and Smith pleaded guilty to several crimes in May of 2007, the judge had granted five requests by government lawyers to put off sentencing for the pair. The court allowed the delays so that the bribers could cooperate with the prosecution in building cases against other defendants in the “POLAR PEN” probe.
But now the judge has had enough, and has denied a request for a sixth extension. Judge Sedwick cited several reasons for putting his foot down now. The judge observed that the crimes of the pair are serious and “involve the integrity of the political process in the State of Alaska.” Those crimes occurred some time ago—some were back in 2002. The public has a substantial interest in seeing the imposition of sentence for these crimes.
The court pointed to practical factors as well. The federal government has had more than two years to get whatever they can get out of Allen and Smith to use in prosecuting others. What’s more, it appears that everybody who could get indicted was known at the time the two pleaded guilty.
Judge Sedwick didn’t say it, but at least one of those potential future indictees was named in sworn testimony. Allen and Smith have stated under oath that they bribed former State Senate President Ben Stevens (R.-Anchorage) while testifying in the trials of former State Reps. Pete Kott (R.-Eagle River) and Vic Kohring (R.-Wasilla).
Hanging over the judge’s orders announcing the sentencing date for the former VECO executives was his obvious exasperation with the errors of prosecutors that led to Kott and Kohring walking around free today along with former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska). Failures to provide discovery of evidence to defense attorneys forced onto Judge Sedwick the task of sorting out what to do in the cases against Kott and Kohring, and prosecutorial misconduct famously produced the setting aside of the guilty verdicts against Ted Stevens.
The judge offered one opening for the prosecutors to avoid the sentencing of the pair on October 28, but he signaled that opening is small indeed. If the government files a detailed request under seal giving the name and the date for each indictment that will rely on information from the VECO executives, the judge said that he would consider granting another delay past October 28.
The strong feeling you get from reading these orders, however, is that sentencing for Allen and Smith will occur on October 28. The pair can come in from prison and testify at later trials and still request reduced punishment based on that additional cooperation even after they have been sentenced.
Judge Sedwick’s tough new stand will tend to force the government’s hand regarding
additional prosecutions in “POLAR PEN.” The testimony of Allen and Smith figures to be critical in any trials of future defendants, and prosecutors might see the pair as likely to be more cooperative--and perhaps less unsavory--if they are not on temporary release from federal prison when they go on the witness stand. We will likely find out sooner rather than later whether the figures most frequently fingered as being the next to face criminal charges in that probe—including Ben Stevens, U.S. Rep. Don Young (R.-Alaska), and former State Sen. Jerry Ward (R.-Anchorage)—will actually be prosecuted.
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