Judge removes defense attorney in CIA fraud case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Mercury News/Associated Press

Judge removes defense attorney in CIA fraud case
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 07/09/2007 06:27:19 PM PDT


SAN DIEGO—A judge on Monday removed high-profile defense attorney Mark Geragos from the case of a defense contractor charged with conspiring to defraud the CIA because the lawyer refused to submit to background checks.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Geragos placed an undue burden on the court by refusing to obtain a security clearance. Prosecutors said they would have to spend six months sifting through 17,000 pages of documents to remove any classified material.

The move may delay the trial against former top CIA official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and his best friend, Poway-based contractor Brent Wilkes, Burns said, after repeatedly asking Geragos to reconsider his stance.
(snip)

Geragos, who represents Wilkes, called the government's insistence that it could not hand over the material "laughable" and said his client has a constitutional right to any incriminating evidence. Burns said Geragos may appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.



Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6335854?nclick_check=1

[annabanana]

1. Is this greymail or stalling. . or both?. . . n/t

[napi21]

2. Geragos is a jackass when he wants to be, but I sure would like

to be able to afford HIM if I were ever in serious legal trouble! He doesn't play by the rules, but he does a hell of a job for his clients!

[cascadiance]

3. Thomas Kontogiannis just had the court records sealed after his guilty plea too!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070630-9999-7m30sealed.html

Bushco is trying to lock down all of these court cases now. Seems like they want to get through September for some reason without any of this stuff getting out...

Court case on CIA agents in Italy is being delayed until then too.

Poor Wilkes. Now he's got to get stuck with some cheaper lawyer! Maybe this might prompt him to be a more "willing" plea bargainer?