Justice in America

OFF THE WIRE
Don druber
Deirdre Purdy of Chloe, Calhoun County, defended Richard T. “Lucky” Weaver, defendant #5, in the infamous Pagans Motorcycle Club case in federal court in Charleston.

Deirdre Purdy wrote a column in the Charleston Gazette today that showed just how all-bark-no-bite this case was.

From Deirdre Purdy: In early October 2009, 55 defendants were charged in a 44-count indictment that the Gazette continually refers to as ’sweeping’.”

Well, we did have this gang of evil motorcycle riders.

From Deirdre Purdy”The case as indicted was a complicated one, charging RICO and conspiracy to RICO, interstate travel and violent crimes in aid of racketeering, as well as individual drug and gun charges. In the end, not a single violent crime was proven. Not only was there no murder or conspiracy to murder, but there was also no assault, no conspiracy to assault, and no weapon was ever brandished. (One T-shirt was confiscated.)”

Yes, we must protect the public from illegal T-shirts (sound like the next John Prine song).

The defense lawyer’s rundown of the 55 charged:

* 18 had all federal charges dismissed against them. Each paid a $5 fine in Kanawha County magistrate court plus court costs for a local gambling offense.

* 5 had all federal charges dismissed against them. (The Government is appealing the Court’s dismissal of these charges.)

* 6 received pretrial diversion. That is, all federal charges will be dismissed if they stay out of trouble for a year.

* One went to trial and was acquitted.

Mind you, U.S. attorneys are just below God in the powers they have. And they put 30 people through holy hell just to collect $90 in fines (plus roughly $3,000 in court costs).

The words “abuse of power” come to mind.

Of the other 25 defendants, their pleas did not meet the Page One headlines at the time of the indictment.

From Deirdre Purdy: “For example, Richard Lee ‘Stump’ Stevens, who was charged with conspiracy to murder and federal witness retaliation, pled guilty to transporting a stolen motorcycle across state lines. This is typical of the pleas entered.”

Murder? They mean transporting a stolen motorcycle. Their bad, huh?

From Deirdre Purdy: “A rough estimate of total court-appointed attorneys’ fees and costs exceeds $2 million. The Government spent more than $225,000 for confidential informants. Costs for the FBI to handle these individuals are unknown. Five U.S. attorneys worked to prosecute the case at various times. Hundreds of hours of court personnel’s time were required from clerks through probation officers to Judge Johnston himself, who issued a number of substantial published opinions. Five million dollars is a conservative estimate.”

The $7 million does not bother me. I don’t want to do justice on the cheap. But I do want to do justice. The feds paid $200,000 to Ronnie Howerton to work as an informant.

From Deirdre Purdy: “Unlike Howerton, who stole motorcycles for the government, most club members had legitimate blue-collar jobs. They were truck drivers, boilermakers, handymen. Considering only those against whom all federal charges were dismissed, many spent six to nine months in jail. Jobs were lost simply because men were indicted; homes were foreclosed upon while men could not work.”

It is a travesty of justice.

If some truck driver can lose his livelihood and spend 9 months in jail for nonsense like this, why can’t prosecutors lose their law licenses and fat government pensions?

Good for Deirdre Purdy for speaking up.