Kristen Hays at the Chron has written a little throw-away piece on Joe Hirko and Rex Shelby’s request for dismissal of their charges due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Joe Hirko and Rex Shelby, former executives at Enron Broadband Services, point out that former prosecutor John Kroger ignored certain evidence favorable to them to create a case.
As stated previously, Shelby and Hirko are using Kroger’s own words against him. During his run for Attorney General of Oregon (here, here, here and here) John Kroger released a book touting his various Enron “successes”. Shelby and Hirko
claim that certain passages “add to the evidence” that the Task Force went on a “broad fishing expedition” to get evidence and they are claiming that prosecutors “presented false evidence and incomplete and misleading testimony.” What’s more, he gave interviews all over the place in which he said really stupid things. On May 5, 2008 I quoted John Kroger (unfortunately I didn’t link to the original, but copied it in full) defending his Enron prosecution:
Dear “Not So Fast”:
I am very proud of my career as a prosecutor. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, I obtained convictions of mafia killer Greg Scarpa Jr., mob boss Alphonse Persico, drug kingpin Juan “The Puma” Rodriguez, and hundreds of other drug traffickers, mafia members, and white collar criminals. After the 9/11 attack in New York, I workled [sic] on the nation’s emergency response team. These were important cases, and I am proud of my work.
I worked on the Enron case from 2002 to 2003 during a leave of absence from Lewis & Clark Law School, where I teach. I focussed [sic] on several different parts of the case, but one primary responsibility was to lead an investigation of Enron’s telecommunications division. My team and I sought the indictment of seven executives: the CEO, the COO, and CFO, and four others. The CEO and the COO both pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to mislead investors and testified against Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay at their trial. Without their testimony, Skilling might not have been convicted. Thus, my decision to seek their indictment proved very important.
The CFO was convicted at trial years after I left the case, but his conviction was thrown out because the judge used a flawed jury instruction. One defendant — the lowest guy on the totem pole — was acquited [sic - seriously? The prosecutor can't even spell the word "acquitted" - ed]. The three others still have cases pending.
The crimes committed at Enron were horrible, wiping out thousands of jobs, eliminating the retirement savings of thousands of employees, and jacking up energy costs across the west coast. I think all of us who worked on the case believed it should be investigated and prosecuted aggressively, and that is what we did. The case has not always gone smoothly — the defendants have spent roughly $100 million to pay the world’s best corporate defense lawyers, including some from Portland’s own Stoel Rives firm, and they have fought very hard — obtaining some mistrials and a small number of acquittals. Overall, however, I think the results we achieved were excellent.
I think when anyone runs for office, we should scrutinize their record carefully. I have tried to spend my life fighting for things I believe in, as a US Marine, a democratic activist, a prosecutor, and a teacher.
I’m not sure its wise to blatantly admit that, “without their testimony, Skilling might not have been convicted. Thus, my decision to seek their indictment proved very important.” If Hirko, Shelby, Yeager or anyone else did something illegal, they should be prosecuted. But they shouldn’t be prosecuted just to get to Skilling. There is a word for that: scapegoating.
It is my hope that Hirko and Shelby are successful with their motion, and the Lesser Prosecutor can add two more reversals of fortune to his already weak CV.
