He should be impeached over this whole immigration thing.
"Prosecutors’ use of DeLeo ‘unusual,’ Patrick says" by Jim O’Sullivan and Joshua Miller | Globe Staff July 16, 2014
Governor Deval Patrick added his voice Wednesday to rising skepticism among lawmakers about federal prosecutors’ treatment of Speaker Robert A. DeLeo during the trial of three former Probation Department officials, expressing support for the House leader as jurors deliberated on the case at the federal courthouse in Boston.
I've hit a wall on that.
Patrick, who called himself “an ally of the speaker’s,” said he found US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office decision to name DeLeo as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Probation Department hiring scam, without calling DeLeo as a witness, “odd.”
“I am deeply troubled by the allegations in the case,” he told reporters after testifying at an unrelated hearing.
“But, you know, the people I talk to — my wife, many, many others I talk to — find it just odd that, in a system where you normally get to confront, the people who are making the charges would essentially be charging him without him being in the courtroom,” he said. Patrick’s wife, Diane, is a co-managing partner at the Ropes & Gray law firm’s Boston office.
Unless it's a military tribunal or some FBI-instigated patsy plot frame-up.
Patrick had earlier Wednesday called the prosecution’s approach “very, very unusual,” according to the State House News Service.
“Leaving aside the merits of the case and the charges, as a lawyer it seems to me unusual, if not unfair to draw, you know, someone into a trial without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves and answer the accusers,” Patrick said, according to the wire service.
He pled the fifth and refused to testify so they didn't charge him.
Now, about the merits....
The governor’s remarks came on the heels of House lawmakers re-affirming their backing of DeLeo, saying he has been unfairly besmirched as prosecutors labeled him a conspirator and someone who traded jobs for votes.
If they don't, he retaliates. Murphy found that out.
DeLeo, who has pushed back against the prosecution in escalating fashion, again defended himself on Wednesday and offered a knock on prosecutors, who have accused him of participating in a legislative bribery scheme.
“I just wanted to answer a couple of things in terms of actual facts, which haven’t seemed to spew too often from the mouth of the US attorney,” he told reporters Wednesday.
I'll remember that next time -- and every time -- they bring a case to trial.
DeLeo, who has not been charged in the case, reiterated his position that no one got a job in exchange for budgetary protection, and said he didn’t trade jobs for votes in his bid to be speaker, later adding that he was frustrated and angry.
He's protesting doth a bit too much.
Closing arguments in the trial of former Probation commissioner John J. O’Brien and top deputies Elizabeth Tavares and William Burke III wrapped up Tuesday....
And the verdict is awaited.
--more--""
Related:
Probation trial jury set to resume deliberations Thursday
Validating a rigged Beacon Hill
Back to bu$ine$$ as u$ual.
