‘We lie’: New York Prosecutor’s Office in the eye of the hurricane for altering evidence

MIAMI, UNITED STATES.-The federal prosecutors of New York have become the focus of attention and controversy after acknowledging having said a “Outright lie” to defense attorneys for a criminal defendant, while attempting to downplay the mishandling of evidence in the failed trial of a businessman accused of violating US sanctions against Iran.

This same prosecutor’s office is the one that has several accusations against Honduran capos and politicians, linked to drug cartels.

Media such as Washington Post y ABC News they echo what is considered a scandal that shows the manipulation of a trial. The journalistic story emerges after the AP news agency requested documents from a particular case.

According to these media “the shameful revelations about what many consider to be the main criminal investigation office of the United States were contained in dozens of private text messages, transcripts and correspondence revealed on Monday, despite the objection of prosecutors, at the request from The Associated Press ”.

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The release of the records followed a ruling last week in which United States District Judge Alison Nathan urged the Justice Department to open an internal investigation into possible misconduct by prosecutors from the terrorism and narcotics unit. international reports at the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. .

As he Washington Post como ABC News report that while Judge Nathan found no evidence that prosecutors intentionally withheld evidence from lawyers representing an Iranian banker, Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, said they made a “deliberate attempt to hide” the truth and attempted to “bury” a key document that could have helped the defense.

The errors were so serious that even after obtaining a conviction, prosecutors dropped all charges against Sadr.

Documents released Monday provide a detailed look at how the case against Sadr began to unravel in the span of a few turbulent hours last March, as the trial was nearing completion.

As explained one Friday night, a bank record appeared that the line prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney Jane Kim, wanted to present as evidence. But he realized he hadn’t shared it with Sadr’s lawyers yet, a possible violation of rules meant to ensure a fair trial.

Kim initially suggested turning him over to the defense immediately. But a colleague, Assistant US Attorney Stephanie Lake, recommended “waiting until tomorrow and burying it in some other documents,” the US media note says.

The trick did not work. Sadr’s lawyers identified the document as new within an hour. They complained to prosecutors, saying the document, a letter from Commerzbank to the US Treasury Department’s sanctions enforcement office, would have assisted them in their defense.

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Prosecutors, believing that the document had no exculpatory value for the defense, made up an excuse and told the lawyers that they thought the record had been previously filed, he says.

Late Sunday night, the judge Nathan he had given the prosecutors an hour to explain themselves.

Unit supervisors, Emil Bove y Shawn Crowley, got involved. In a text message exchange, Bove acknowledged that the initial excuse that the trial attorneys had given Sadr’s attorneys was a “flat lie.”

Crowley, realizing the seriousness of his subordinates’ mistake and anticipating a harsh reprimand, confides in Bove that instead of looking at the prosecutors’ closing arguments, she was going to “spend the rest of the night cleaning my office.”

“Yuck. These poor guys. This is going to be a bloodbath,” he wrote in a moment of frustration early Monday before appearing in court.

Bove agrees and acknowledges that the test team had “done some pretty aggressive things here in the last few days.” “Yes, we lied in that letter,” Crowley replies.

Even the US media cites an ethicist who questions the prosecutors’ behavior.

Stephen Gillers, an ethics professor at New York University School of Law, said the conduct of prosecutors in the case, as described by the judge, was “alarming.”

“If it can happen in what many attorneys consider the nation’s top prosecutor’s office, where can’t it happen?” Gillers said. “The behavior here is what one might expect from an overly aggressive attorney representing a private party.

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