Monday, February 02, 2009

Stop the presses -- Snitch's misconduct not disclosed to defense

John Pacenti has the story here about the latest transgression -- this time in a health care fraud prosecution. Orlando do Campo and Joaquin Mendez have filed a lengthy motion arguing their client deserves a new trial. Here's the intro from the DBR article:

In the Justice Department’s stout-hearted fight against health care fraud in the heart of Hialeah, Orlando Pascual Jr. was the perfect snitch.
He was an insider who ran a durable medical goods scam called Med-Source Medical Equipment, and Washington prosecutors used him in at least three trials, court documents show.
Among the five known defendants Pascual helped put behind bars was Dr. Ana Caos, a general practitioner for nearly two decades who was accused of writing fake aerosol prescriptions for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The 62-year-old is serving five years in the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex near Orlando.
But Caos’ Miami attorneys are trying to overturn her April conviction, saying in court documents that Pascual neglected to mention he ran yet another Medicare fraud with his brother-in-law at an HIV-infusion clinic called Medcore Group, billing the government for $5.5 million in fraudulent services.
Miami criminal defense lawyers Orlando do Campo of do Campo & Thornton and Joaquin Mendez, a solo practitioner, are incredulous that prosecutors informed the defense about Pascual’s second fraud after Caos’ trial, which means the jury didn’t hear the full extent of the government witness’ criminal exploits.
The lawyers said in a Jan. 15 motion for new trial that there is substantial reason to believe from documents filed in the new case that government agents with the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General knew about Medcore in 2006 — two years before Caos’ trial.
Caos’ attorneys were informed of the latest charges against Pascual in a June 25 letter, two months after their client’s conviction and a month before her sentencing. The letter said investigators didn’t link Pasqual to the HIV-infusion clinic because his last name was misspelled "Pasquale."
(That's my favorite part)
"It is undisputed that Dr. Caos’ trial was severely tainted by Mr. Pascual’s perjury," Caos’ 26-page motion reads. "There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that the government knew or should have known that Mr. Pascual lied on the witness stand."

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:58 AM

    Business as usual

    When does the new U.A. Attorney start?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:30 AM

    Who are the prosecutors that sent the letter and why did they send it?

    Do you think that the brother may be going down soon so that they had no choice?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:45 PM

    NO BIG DEAL
    GROW UP AND SMELL THE ROSES
    HARMLESS ERROR
    DOESNT MATTER WHO IS US ATTY OR PRESIDENT OR ANYTHING ELSE
    AS IT SAID IN THE FOG CITY DINER IN SAN FRANCISCO

    NO CRYBABIES

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7:10 PM

    Disclosed in a letter on June 25 [2008] and now the defense just filed a motion for a new trial and are seeking publicity. Seems like their self-righteous indignation is two parts hyperbole and one part spin. And, by the way, the lead-in to the story per Mr. Markus says the "latest transgression," while ignoring the fact that when the prosecutors learned of the witness's prior bad conduct after trial they disclosed it in a letter before sentencing. I would agree with the characterisation of it being a "transgression" if the prosecutors were covering it up, but given that they voluntarily disclosed it, it sounds more like the kind of transparency and integrity you would want in a prosecutor -- hyperbole and vitriol aside.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:58 PM

    710 you expect rationality from Markus? I would expect more rationality from an iranian cleric than i would from markus. like an Iranian cleric he sees the world simply--AUSA's bad, defense attorneys good.

    Unless of course he beats some hapless AUSA then he says how great they were. Isnt so gracious when he takes a beating.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous9:06 PM

    Is he a groupie or does he hate them all? Why so much hate?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9:09 PM

    Let Markus be. Sounds like an AUSA whose ass he whooped. Get over yourself as Markus is more gracious than the AUSAs who told the two victorious FPDs that now "its on" between the two offices. And if your going to be nasty to Markus man up and don't be "anonymous." If not, crawl back into your little hole.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous8:16 AM

    David rocks. All you haters should be ashamed. The only people who are subject to unfair, anonymous sniping, on this blog are ed williams (who is once again an asshole) and any ausa I choose.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous3:15 PM

    Hey 8:16 a.m.: You once wrote I was ok and you liked me. Which is it? You have to admit I am not partial to one side or the other, eh?

    More importantly, what's with Obama hiring tax cheats? Now Holder has a full time job policing the cabinet and other appointees.

    US Attorney to be announced in a couple of weeks. Its a shocker, but at least her taxes are correct.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous8:31 PM

    Yes, I still like you.

    Yes, you are fair.

    Email david the name of the us atty and a secret number combo. If you are correct about the name I wil
    Send david a 50 dollar gift cert for cap grill and he can get it to you per your instructions. If you are wrong pay david a dollar and I will email him anonymously to claim ed william's money!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous3:26 PM

    8:31 - My religion prevents me from wagering, even a 50:1 sucker bet. Anyway I do not frequent Capitol Grill food too heavy and rich and wine just average. I am sworn to secrecy most importantly.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous1:08 PM

    9:09, maybe you didn't notice, but for all of your tough talk, your post was also anonymous.

    ReplyDelete