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February 22, 2010
What's the longest prison sentence ever served by a crooked prosecutor?
This local story, headlined "Ex-N.C. prosecutor gets 3-year sentence," got me thinking about the question that is the title of this post. Here are the details from the NC story:Former Johnston County prosecutor Cindy Jaeger will spend at least three years in prison after pleading guilty today to her role in a scheme to fix drunken driving tickets.
Jaeger pleaded guilty to 10 counts each of obstruction of justice and tampering with official court documents. She was also sentenced to three years probation after her prison term ends and must pay a $25,000 fine. "You are a traitor to your office and your oath," Superior Court Judge Henry Hight told Jaeger moments after sentencing her.
Five others involved in the scheme pleaded guilty last month to obstructing justice. Lawyers Chad Lee and Lee Hatch were each sentenced to prison for four years. Three others -- Jack McLamb, Vann Sauls and former assistant court clerk Portia Snead -- were put on probation.
Jaeger was accused of handing over signed copies of dismissal forms to private attorneys before she left her job as an assistant district attorney in September 2007. The private attorneys then filed the forms in dozens of drunken driving cases, effectively making them go away. Her attorney, David Freedman, estimated that she provided more than 50 signed dismissal forms to Lee and Hatch, close friends of hers. SBI agents found no evidence of money or gifts exchanging hands in this scheme.
Freedman, Jaeger's attorney, said that she had been exposed to poor training and guidance from Chad Lee, who trained her when they both worked as assistant district attorneys several years ago. The two remained close after Lee left the district attorney's office to go into private practice as a criminal defense lawyer.
I can think of some long sentences given to cops and judges gone bad, but I cannot readily recall many cases in which a prosecutor got a long prison term for criminal behavior while on the job. Can any reader perhaps cite to cases of crooked prosecutors getting a double-digit prison sentence for on-the-job wrong-doing?
February 22, 2010 at 05:07 PM | Permalink
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Comments
If she got three years, Nifong should get the chair.
Posted by: federalist | Feb 22, 2010 5:45:32 PM
It appears that it's okay for prosecutors to lie, mischaracterize evidence, withhold evidence, threaten defendants, overcharge, manufacture crimes, solicit lying snitches, etc. etc., but the only time their misdeeds seem to be noticed is when they are committing criminal acts that are NOT sending innocent people to prison.
Posted by: hope4justice | Feb 22, 2010 7:16:40 PM
of course, hope, you may have a different view if one of these people for whom tickets were fixed winds up killing someone while driving drunk , , , ,
Posted by: federalist | Feb 22, 2010 8:12:33 PM
The only other case that came to my mind involving a prosecutor doing time was a similar case involving getting dui's and suspended license cases dismissed in exchange for a contribution to a local charity. However, in this case there was a question about where the money had gone. I think he got like three years too.
Unfortunately this suggests that Hope may be right that the only time when prosecutors go to jail is when they dismiss cases rather than prosecuting them.
Posted by: KRG def attny | Feb 22, 2010 8:24:40 PM
We had a guy (Joseph Paulus) get 58 months federal time for taking bribes (and tax fraud). ED Wisconsin.
Posted by: Matt | Feb 22, 2010 9:21:29 PM
@federalist - I am very much opposed to drunk drivers, and I did acknowledge that it was a criminal act, and I didn't mean to imply that it's okay. I was merely thinking, for instance, that it is very telling that they referred to her as a "traitor" - and it seems that doing other criminal acts of prosecutorial misconduct to rob people (innocent people in many instances) of their freedom connotes "loyalty," and is therefore, seldom punished.
Posted by: hope4justice | Feb 22, 2010 9:26:49 PM
"Freedman, Jaeger's attorney, said that she had been exposed to poor training and guidance from Chad Lee, who trained her when they both worked as assistant district attorneys several years ago."
What a classic! Just how much "training and guidance" do you need to know it's immoral and illegal to hand out free passes to drunk drivers in exchange for bribes?
"The two remained close after Lee left the district attorney's office to go into private practice as a criminal defense lawyer."
An interesting choice of profession. I wonder if Lee is in a partnership with any of the crooked defense lawyers who were doing the deal with the crooked ADA.
Jaeger and all the defense lawyers who involved themselves in this payoff scheme should be disbarred.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Feb 23, 2010 12:35:40 AM
"SBI agents found no evidence of money or gifts exchanging hands in this scheme."
Just clarifying, not condoning.
Posted by: Talitha | Feb 23, 2010 10:49:52 AM
The only one I know of in Michigan was Duncan McCrea, the elected Prosecuting Attorney of Wayne County (Detroit), who was convicted of a conspiracy to obstruct justice, essentially for agreeing, probably for money, not to prosecute bawdy houses and gambling dens, and to protect them from police interference. He was sentenced to four-and-one-half to five years. One of his assistants not involved in the conspiracy later told me he refused parole, so as to avoid government regulation of his conduct for six months or so. He probably served about four years, net, with time off for good behavior. Those interested can read the case, People v. McCrea, 303 Mich. 213, 6 N.W.2d 489 (1942), cert. denied, 318 U.S. 783 (1943). McCrea represented himself on appeal.
Posted by: Greg Jones | Feb 23, 2010 11:20:58 AM
Bill, what bribes?
Looks like she was doing a favor for friends...the kind of risky favor only someone accustomed to getting away with the practices Hope articulated must have figured she could do with impunity.
The traitor remark was indeed revealing of the Team Justice loyalty bond that too often trumps the pursuit of truth and justice.
Posted by: John K | Feb 23, 2010 12:55:40 PM
Very good post. Made me realize I was totally wrong about this issue. I figure that one learns something new everyday. Mrs Right learned her lesson! Nice, informative website by the way.
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