Thursday, February 21, 2013

Bifield Bags Guilty Plea

OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
The strange and corrupt case of the Rock Hell Five got a little more honest Tuesday afternoon. One time lead defendant Daniel Eugene “Diamond Dan” Bifield moved to withdrew his guilty plea to a charge of racketeering conspiracy.
Bifield and his wife Lisa both agreed to plea bargains last December 27. Bifield was blackmailed into taking the deal under that threat that his wife would never see her daughter again if he didn’t. Unbeknownst to Dan Bifield, Lisa Bifield had been talking with prosecutors since last June.
Bifield block printed his five page motion on ruled paper by hand. It reads as follows.
Based on prosecutorial misconduct, the defendant wants to withdraw his plea agreement for the following reasons:
1. U.S. Attorney Richardson and the FBI had Lisa Bifield sign a proffer in July and August of 2012 but withheld this knowledge and information from me on the day I signed my plea agreement – 12/27/12.
2. That U.S. Attorney Richardson, the FBI and other law enforcement withheld a statement made by Lisa Bifield on 6/7/12, the day of our arrest, from me on the day I signed my plea agreement – 12/27/12.
3. That the U.S. Attorney used my wife, Lisa Bifield, to place me under duress for me to sign a plea deal by threatening to put my wife in prison for 14 years and telling her she would never see her 14-year-old daughter again.
4. That the U.S. Attorney pressured us to take this one time offer of a plea deal and only allowed us seven days to decide – starting the day after Christmas. We should have been allowed just as much time as the other co-defendants had to decide their plea deals.
5. That when I made the plea agreement I wasn’t aware of an agreement that my wife Lisa Bifield had to testify. If that had been the case I never would have taken the plea deal. I was told by my lawyers that Lisa could admit to things that she did with me in the indictment, as part of her guilty plea for acceptance of personal responsibility. I was also told that if she could testify to anything it would help her to get more time off her sentence, which I did not agree to nor ever will! At this time I asked everybody to leave the room so I could talk to my wife. I told her that I didn’t think she was getting a good deal and I didn’t like the plea deal because they gave her too much time for pleading guilty. I also told her I didn’t want her to ever testify to anything. My wife told me she didn’t know anything to testify about – that she wanted to go home as soon as possible to take care of her daughter and that she didn’t want to die in prison. So, I took the plea deal.
6. My plea agreement was to plead guilty to conspiracy of the RICO Act and to receive 20 years with three years probation; that my wife would plead guilty to the gun count for five years with two years probation; and that she would go to a prison camp. Nobody told me or Lisa that she had to testify. Also, nobody told us of the five years to life with five years probation until we heard it in court.
7. I also should have been allowed to have read my wife Lisa Bifield’s plea agreement since I sacrificed myself, my appeals and my rights.
8. That my withdrawal of said plea agreement should have no effect on Lisa Bifield’s guilty plea.
9. Rules of evidence, prosecution must disclose any and all evidence prior to trial or plea agreement.
10. I would like to state for the record all the things that I have been denied and all the wrong that has been done to both my wife, Lisa Bifield, and myself. I have been denied the right to find witnesses who may have had information or evidence to help prove our innocence. I was denied my right to have a private investigator who could have helped with the defense to find witnesses and evidence. Since the start of the case I have been kept in lockdown 23 hours a day with no human contact. My wife, Lisa Bifield, has also been kept on lockdown. We have been living under extreme conditions and made to suffer. We have been denied our rights to correspondence as husband and wife. Our mail has been held from us, taken, stolen or lost. We are being kept in lockdown because of stories and lies told by the U.S. Attorney and the FBI. If somebody really bothered to investigate this, then they would have known the truth. But nobody cared! I have been denied my rights to properly defend myself, to make the phone calls I need and to work on my case with the other co-defendants, especially my wife. We have been kept apart on purpose so we can’t share information, facts, dates, times, witnesses and events that did or didn’t happen. We have been punished and made to suffer in many ways. My wife has been told lies and stories to try to turn her against me. The conditions we are forced to live in are cruel and unusual punishment and have effected our abilities to defend ourselves.
11. I also believe and know that the U.S. Attorney, the FBI, the CIs (Confidential Informants or Confidential Human Sources) and other law enforcement have withheld evidence, tampered with evidence (tape recordings) and have destroyed evidence that would have helped our defense. That evidence has not been turned in right away by the CIs and statements made by the CIs, FBI and other law enforcement are not truthful. I can’t find videos that are supposed to back up statements and evidence from CIs. There is a lot of stuff missing and messed up that would help to prove our innocence. I’d also want to contest that fake, attempted Hobbs Act robbery and the fake drugs and the amount of drugs being used against us.
12. I’d like to put on the record that any statement made by my wife, Lisa Bifield, was made under duress, under the influence and while detoxing from Xanax and sleeping pills.
13. On 6/7/12 Lisa Bifield was upset, confused, scared, didn’t understand and was coerced by the U.S. Attorney, the FBI and other law enforcement into giving a fake statement. Lisa Bifield was in shock and in no condition to make any kind of statement to anything that happened or took place – especially after the blowing up of our home.
14. I would also like to express that in July and August when Lisa Bifield gave a proffer statement she was and had been suffering from the influence of Xanax and sleeping pills. Because of that she was not in her right state of mind, mentally and physically. She cannot be held accountable for her actions or anything she has said. It is pretty clear she did not know what she was doing or understood her rights. Because of her addiction and detoxing, she had a head injury, had to be given a shot by the doctor and taken to the outside hospital. She does not even remember any of this or much of anything else. Because of this the U.S. Attorney and the FBI took advantage of these facts and her and violated her rights!
15. Based on the foregoing and because of the nondisclosure of evidence and the ongoing corrupt actions of not only the U.S. Attorney but also the FBI and other law enforcement, I Daniel Eugene Bifield take my plea agreement back.
I, Daniel Bifield, hereby declare that all of the statements made in this motion are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Daniel Bifield
2/19/13