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Mary Cheh
“I think he should resign,” Cheh says. “I don’t think he should have ever been appointed…You start messing with a federal judge in a case where you are hiding evidence or destroying evidence—that’s gone to a new level.”..."This is a really shocking breach of faith…It’s lawless. I can’t get my jaw up from the ground it’s dropped so far.”
What leads Cheh to such conclusions? The severe mishandling of the hot mess that was the arrest of several anti-IMF/World Bank protesters in September 2002. That day, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators were rounded up in Pershing Park and arrested. The repercussions of the police's actions that day have been broad, with claws deep in former Chief of Police Charles Ramsey (who publicly apologized for the arrests), current MPD Chief Cathy Lanier (who apparently developed with the "mass-arrest" strategy), and now, Nickles. Individual settlements between those detained and the District government rolled in over time -- but evidence was so severely mishandled by the attorney general's office during the overarching civil trial that Emmet G. Sullivan, a U.S. District judge, dubbed the office's performance "abysmal", while calling for a D.C. Council investigation of the A.G.'s office.
Allegedly losing, altering and destroying evidence? Yeah, that sounds like a bit of a problem. So far, Nickles' only comments on Sullivan's damnation blame the whole shebang on not having enough cash flowing into the office.
City Paper's Jason Cherkis reports that Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) is considering launching an investigation into the charges, as Sullivan suggested. If that's true, this part of the Post's report may be a sign of things to come:
After the judge's harangue, the District's attorney, Thomas Koger, had tears in his eyes. He declined to comment.
Weeping attorneys? Something tells me that this situation is going to get much worse before it gets better.
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That's like saying bone cancer is worse than lymphatic cancer.
What we need is a mob armed with torches to drag Nickles out of his upholstered fire extinguisher alcove in Penn Quarter, where he can be tarred, feathered, and served with mambo sauce.
Is this guy still living in Great Falls, Va? He is required to live in DC like the police chief, fire chief and others. Is he above the law in instances he determines?
Keep in mind that Mary Cheh has been teaching Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure at The George Washington University Law School for 30 years. I'm sure she takes this breach of a lawyer's duty to the court very seriously and somewhat personally.
As one of the arrestees I've been following this pretty closely... and I think the reporting on this has missed an important part of this:
Really, there are two main issues at play at this point. The first is as discussed: a massive, organized, and massively stupid attempt to cover up, lose, delay, and confuse the discovery that the city owes the plaintiffs.
The second related, but slightly separate issue, is the data log from the Joint Operations Command Center, which has been completely destroyed in all its electronic forms (along with a further 12 hard copies). This wouldn't necessarily be incompetence or neglect by the AG's office, but seems to be a cover-up action taken in the MPD's offices.
Its a bit difficult to parse out, but maybe you'll have more success than me: http://www.justiceonline.org/site/DocServer/Mot_for_Sanctions_for_Discovery_Abuse_by_DC__00060699_.pdf?docID=1241
Oh, and remember, Ramsey is on the hook for being personally liable for this one... he would have had plenty of reason to do a cover-up within MPD back then: even if it put the city at risk for a much higher bill later, the obfuscation could keep him clear from the worst of it.
The City Council needs to find some issue to deflect attention from their own stink. I think that that they know a house cleaning is in the works. Bye bye Mr Meddlesome.
There's a housecleaning in the works for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. Bet on it.
Lawdy, Lawdy, Lawdy!! There should be a housecleaning in the works for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. However, it should not be the staff attorneys who are forced to do Nickles' bidding. The attorney who was being severely scolded by Judge Sullivan was probably moved to tears because he was so angry that he had to do Nickles' bidding against his (Koger's) better legal judgment and ethical principles. The City Council had enough information to NOT confirm Nickles but the weakest link - Gray - cast the deciding vote to confirm him and by doing so sent the D.C. Office of the Attorney General back light years from whence it came under Mayor Anthony Williams. Wonder if the trade for his vote to confirm Nickles was baseball tickets? Tsk Tsk Tsk....Council should have listened to and followed the lead of Cheh, Mendolson, Alexander. More woes ahead as long as Nickles is allowed to manipulate his staff. Hopefully, Nickles will be gone before any of those attorneys lose their law licenses for following Nickles' commands.