Six Months in Jail for Prosecutorial Sex

Last November,  we wrote about Carl Gabrielse (pictured), the former Holland, Michigan City Attorney who reduced a drunk driving charge of a female defendant in exchange for sex in a courthouse jury room.

A right-wing, Republican and conservative part of Michigan, some of Gabrielse's staunch supporters took offense at the time that we suggested that he could have eventually become a great Republican U.S. Attorney. 

He's now a convicted felon, like many Rove Republicans should be.

Last month, disgraced Gabrielse was sentenced to six-months in jail. The Holland Sentinel reported:

Former deputy city attorney Carl Gabrielse broke more than one vow when he sexually assaulted a woman in a Holland District Court bathroom last November, an Ottawa County judge said.... “I’m sure you know your biggest crime was the violation of your oath to your wife, your oath to your profession and your oath to your employer,” Judge Calvin Bosman said at Gabrielse’s sentencing Monday. Gabrielse, 31, was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to undergo sex therapy at his sentencing in Ottawa County Circuit Court Monday. He’ll also serve up to a year of probation.The former deputy city attorney admitted to offering a plea deal to a 21-year-old woman in exchange for sex last November. The woman reported that Gabrielse sexually assaulted her. Police wired her with a microphone and recorded several conversations in which Gabrielse attempted to make further plans for sex with the woman, according to a personal-protection order she filed.

The assaulted woman had her original drunk driving case reduced this month after cooperating with authorities. The Holland Sentinel reported:

The victim of an assault by former Holland deputy city attorney Carl Gabrielse was sentenced to nine months of probation and a $750 fine for her own drunken driving charge. The 22-year-old woman pleaded guilty to a count of driving while impaired on Wednesday in Hudsonville District Court. She was sentenced immediately. She is also required to abstain from alcohol during her probation. The woman was originally charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, but the charge was reduced to driving while impaired due to her cooperation with police in the Gabrielse investigation. She reported that Gabrielse sexually assaulted her after offering a reduced charge in exchange for sex.

Bumbling Brizzi Crashes Golf Cart

Outgoing Rove Republican District Attorney of Indianapolis, Carl Brizzi,whose not so wise hand-picked successor lost in a recent Republican primary, has another scandal to deal with: crashing a golf cart.

Brizzi, who is linked to Republican Timothy S. Durham accused of swindling $200 million from Ohio retirees, has been repeatedly asked to resign by Republican officials but refuses to do so because he'll lose the pension he will receive if he stays until the end of his term late this year.

The Rove Republican Racket drove real justice off the cliff, but Brizzi drove incompetence to the top of the mountain.

Now he can't control a golf cart.


Local Indianapolis NBC affiliate reports:

Metro Police have issued results of an internal investigation involving Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi's security detail. The investigation resulted in the department suspending one of Brizzi's security officers.When Carl Brizzi goes out in public, he is often protected by off-duty IMPD detectives. That was the case in October 2008, when during a golf fundraiser for Brizzi's campaign, a golf cart driven by Brizzi crashed as he was trying to avoid a collision with a vehicle. A member of his security team also in the cart was injured. But in the police report filed by IMPD supervisor Sgt. Michael Thayer, there was no mention that Brizzi was driving the cart. An IMPD investigation launched by public safety director Frank Straub found that although Thayer later learned Brizzi was indeed behind the wheel, he never amended the report. As a result, Thayer is suspended without pay for one day and has been reassigned within the department.

New York Misconduct may Free Murderer

Breaking News....In a stunning admission, state prosecutors may be forced to free a murderer in New York because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Local NBC affiliate WNBC reports:

A federal judge moved closer Tuesday to freeing a Brooklyn rabbi's convicted killer after state prosecutors admitted that they had withheld evidence during his 1995 murder trial. Federal Judge Dora Irizarry chided the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and over their objections, ordered a rare evidentiary hearing Wednesday that could free Jabbar Collins, 37, and bar prosecutors from retrying him for the rabbi's slaying. "What is troubling is that back in 2006 the DA's office didn't take that extra step," said the judge, criticizing Brooklyn prosecutors for failing to thoroughly investigate defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct years ago. Prosecutors did admit a crucial mistake:  not revealing back in 1995 that a key witness against Collins briefly recanted.  He went on to testify against Collins, who was sentenced to 34 years to life in prison for fatally shooting Rabbi Abraham Pollack during a 1995 robbery in Williamsburg.

Another Michigan Militia Member Released

The government's case against some right-wing political nut balls continues to fall apart. Taking a page from the Rove Republican Racket, the Obama Administration is targeting political opponents, a really unfortunate trend.

Last week, we reported how three members were released.

Now a fourth member, Kristopher Sickles (pictured), has been released and comments made to the media demonstrates that the Obama prosecutors may end up looking as stupid as their Rove colleagues.

The Associated Press reports:

 A fourth member of a Midwest militia accused of plotting to overthrow the government was released from jail Wednesday after prosecutors said they were confident that the strict conditions under which he was set free would ensure the public's safety. Kristopher Sickles of Sandusky, Ohio, will be electronically monitored 24 hours a day, like three other members of the Hutaree militia who were released under the same conditions Tuesday. 

In a phone interview from jail on April 17, Sickles told The Associated Press that he had "never hurt anyone or taken steps to do so." He said he joined the group to learn how to protect his family. "As far as any specific plan to overthrow the government, I never heard such things," he said. "There was off-color talk, but there was no set plan to overthrow this or take over that."

Alabama Asst. DA Arrested for Extortion

As the Rove Republican Racket slowly falls apart,  followers of the Rove machine in Republican strongholds like Alabama are screwing up.

Last week, Assistant DA Frank Selman Teel of Alabama (pictured) allegedly tried to shake down millions of dollars from a defendant in a civil matter who could have face capital murder charges in a criminal case.

The defendant was involved in a 1995 explosion that killed two men.

A local NBC affiliate from Montgomery reported:

[Alabama] Attorney General Troy King and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday the arrests of an assistant district attorney in Coosa County, Frank Selman Teel, and a Gadsden attorney, Frank Wayne Bailey, for felony charges of extortion, bribery and ethics violations. The two are accused of using the threat of indictment to force the settlement of a civil lawsuit for millions of dollars, and alternatively, offering to try to keep the man from being charged if he did pay the money. Agents of the Attorney General's Office and the ABI arrested the two men late Wednesday night after they accepted a check for $1 million. This morning they were being held in the Etowah County Jail, with bond totaling $10,000 for each defendant.Teel, 59, of Sylacauga, is an assistant district attorney in Coosa County who also practices private law in Rockford.  Teel and Bailey, 58, were handling a civil lawsuit against a man who could face capital murder charges. Warrants were issued detailing charges in Etowah County District Court against the defendants.

 This is the video report from the same NBC TV station.

California's Conflicting Carr

The case against the Rove Republican Racket District Attorney of Santa Clara County, California, Dolores Carr (pictured)is gaining momentum. As readers may recall, Carr pushed the nuclear button in legal circles and spearheaded the boycott of a sitting judge after the judge tossed out a case for gross prosecutorial misconduct.

Carr now faces a well-financed competitor who currently serves as a Deputy Prosecutor in her office.

The race has heated up and conflicts and controversy are knocking Carr down.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Almost from the start of her administration, Carr has been controversial. Earlier this year, she alienated many in the legal community when she ordered her staff to stop bringing criminal cases before Superior Court Judge Andrea Bryan. Two weeks prior, the judge had angered prosecutors by dismissing a sex molestation case after finding that a prosecutor committed misconduct, including giving false testimony. Some legal experts said the extremely rare blanket boycott could have a chilling effect on judicial oversight of overzealous prosecution.

Carr has apologized repeatedly for her misjudgment regarding her husband's involvement in a high-profile murder case. Carr's husband, former San Jose police Lt. John Carr, was paid $14,000 by an attorney for the slain victim's family, who had filed a separate lawsuit against the bank where he was shot. With that payment, the district attorney in effect was receiving income from an advocate for the victim's family, even as she would ultimately decide whether to seek the death penalty in the criminal case. The case eventually was turned over to the state attorney general to prosecute because of the potential conflict of interest. The money was returned and Carr said her husband would confine his work as a consultant to outside the county. But legal experts said she should have known from the outset that was the only ethical choice.

Morrison's "Mere Pittance"

We have repeatedly blogged about embattled Acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Indiana Timothy M. Morrison who let his corrupt Republican friends off the hook while sinking Ohio retirees of $200 million in a scheme involving a company called Fair Finance.

On Monday,  hundreds of investors (pictured) showed up to a creditors meeting to only hear the worse.

The Rove Republican Racket let this happen and let the masterminds of this swindle walk free. 

The Akron Beacon Journal reports:

About 850 people showed up for the first creditors meeting in the bankruptcy case of Fair Finance on Monday, creating the need for two separate programs to address the crowds. The size of the group of mostly older investors surprised attorney Brian Bash, the court-appointed trustee in the bankruptcy case. Bash had reserved the ballroom at the Akron City Centre Hotel, which seats 250 people. Bash said the case may not be resolved for a few years, which drew sighs from the crowd. 

Bash said he has recovered about $270,000 from Fair's cash and checking accounts.''Yeah, that's a mere pittance'' of the $200 million in assets, he said. Ultimately, there's only about $67,000 in accounts receivable because there are other loans and accounts involved, he said. Bash told the audiences he does not have access to information for the parent and affiliate companies of Fair Finance and related company Fair Holdings and said it is apparent that a large number of loans or investments from certificate holders were used to give out loans without collecting back from those other companies. 

Bash said he has sued to try to include all other companies, including Fair Holdings and an Indianapolis-based company called DC Investments (DCI). Court records have shown that more than 5,300 people and organizations, including churches, bought investment certificates totaling about $200 million from the small investment and loan company founded decades ago in Akron. The Fair family sold the company to Tim Durham and Jim Cochran, two Indiana-based businessmen, in 2002. Most of the certificate holders are in the Greater Akron area.