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January 13, 2006

Goin' off the rails on a crazy train...

- Ozzy (hat tip to Carla, the queen of lyrical post titles)

A federal judge has dismissed 47 counts of fraud and conspiracy against three former executives of Flir Systems Inc., citing "deceit and trickery" by federal investigators and prosecutors involved in the case.

The Oregonian reports:

U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty ruled that the government's "egregious" conduct violated the executives' due process rights and their rights against self-incrimination by failing to divulge that they were targets of a criminal inquiry at the same time they were being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As a result, the defendants did not initially hire criminal defense attorneys and offered information and documents to the SEC that became evidence in the criminal case, the judge said in a bluntly worded order issued Monday.

Haggerty said the SEC and the U.S. attorney's office in Oregon conspired to hide the criminal investigation. The U.S. attorney's office, he said, "shielded its intentions behind the guise of a civil prosecution, resorting to subterfuge to maintain the secrecy of its involvement."

Under the most extreme interpretations of the Unitary Executive Theory those prosecutors did nothing wrong as long as what they did was at the direction of the President. And we know that President Bush certainly subscribes to this theory.

SCOTUS nominee Samual Alito subscribes to the Unitary Executive Theory and he's about to be given a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.

Might a future Justice Alito end up finding that the U.S. attorney's office doesn't have to obey the same laws which they are authorized by the President to enforce via prosecution?

Posted by Kevin at January 13, 2006 07:38 AM