DoJ Asks for Release of Kott and Kohring. No, I’m Not Kidding.
4 06 2009If you live in Alaska, sit down.
The U.S.Justice Department this afternoon asked that two former Alaska state legislators imprisoned after convictions in public corruption cases be released, saying their trials were tainted by the failure of prosecutors to disclose favorable information.
The rest of you may not know the characters involved in this little drama, but Alaskans know Pete Kott, and Vic Kohring very very well. At one time we thought this constituted some of the biggest political news Alaska would ever see. And apparently the Bush Department of Justice screwed up the prosecution of these two members of “The Corrupt Bastards Club” so massively that this is the result.
From U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:
“After a careful review of these cases, I have determined that it appears that the Department did not provide information that should have been disclosed to the defense,” the statement says. “Department of Justice prosecutors work hard every day and perform a great service for the American people. But the Department’s mission is to do justice, not just win cases, and when we make mistakes, it is our duty to admit and correct those mistakes. We are committed to doing that.”
I want to know what undisclosed evidence that may have been favorable to the defense negates video footage of Vic Kohring and Pete Kott in a hotel room taking CASH.
More later.
UPDATE: More in from the Anchorage Daily News:
With Kott and Kohring, the government has not moved to dismiss the indictments, though presumably the defense lawyers will seek dismissal when they get back to U.S. District Court in Anchorage. The more normal remedy in this kind of situation is a new trial.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Good Lord, who was working in the DOJ for the last 8 years? More grads of Liberty University no doubt?!?
June 4th, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Well – All I can say is that if the DoJ comes down on sarah , it’ll be airtight. youbetcha !! She’ll plead out. They will have her cold. Go AG Holder !!
June 4th, 2009 at 2:44 PM
First Ted Stevens, now this. I cannot help but get the feeling there is a chess game brewing. Can these two be re-tried with all evidence presented? I read somewhere that Stevens can, that it is NOT all over for Ted. I prefer that the DOJ does it right, even if it is frusrating in light of so much evidence. For when we trust them to be above board, SP will be powerless to go free due to incompetence (should we be lucky enough for the dreaded “feds” to take her off of her high horse).
June 4th, 2009 at 2:51 PM
From what I understand AG Holder wants to retry them, as he only asked that they be released and not that charges be dropped. The administration of justice must be airtight where ethics are concerned, and we all know that the Bush Administration was not. I can only imagine the level of corruption of the Bush Admin but we’ll all find out for sure soon ’nuff. In the meantime, these trials need to be done right.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:52 PM
I don’t think it matters whether or not the evidence might be helpful to the defense; only that it was withheld.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Bush.
Worst.
President.
EVER.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:00 PM
OK, I don’t get it. It’s commendable that the DOJ is doing the right thing (finally), but don’t they have better things to do than go back through old cases? Why is this coming up now?
June 4th, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Pat, Washington State,
Since the previous DoJ folks were found to have mishandled Ted Stephens case so badly, now all their cases are considered “suspect.”
So now, it has to be done all over again. It’s a pain, but as RouletteRog said, better to have it done right.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:36 PM
VoteNov4
I remember that during the Monica Goodling fiasco, Olbermann dug up the fact that 150 Liberty grads had been hired into DoJ under Bush. Exculpatory evidence, though, is probably the most abused aspect of our legal system. It is a matter of trust that the prosecution will act ethically and disclose it, and it is up to the prosecution – under political pressure to win cases – to decide what it deems exculpatory. My hunch is that lots of it is never turned over to defense councilors.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:02 PM
But look at the pattern.
The Bush DOJ had to try them. But you can see the Chaney/Rumsfield mentality. We’ll look good if we get convictions, but really don’t want them convicted so we’ll find a way to get the convictions thrown out.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:05 PM
WHAT NEXT?!?!?!
June 4th, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Val @4:05 WHAT NEXT!?!?!?!
GINO on tape.!?!?!?!
June 4th, 2009 at 4:24 PM
It looks like after the FEMA folks messed up with Katrina, they all transferred to the DOJ. The Bushies were incompetent on top of having misguided policies.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Is this the DOJ stimulus package?
June 4th, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Mistrial or not, these two conservative clowns (Pete ‘Got Kott’ and Vic Kohring) were definitely guilty of corruption and still deserve to be tried (competently) this time.
The evidence was pretty overwhelming against these guys, I find it hard to believe there is material out there that says otherwise.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how Sarah reacts to this as she was no fan of these guys when she rode in on her platform of anti-corruption.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:29 PM
OT but here’s HuffPo’s take on Palin http://tinyurl.com/pdbsm9
What’s interesting about the DoJ is that Holder is having to spend his time cleaning up after the Liberty grads who rampaged through our Justice system. . . I guess this is what happens when you turn the DoJ into DayCare
June 4th, 2009 at 4:37 PM
AKM…shocked I was when I read the headline.
Isn’t it funny, a bunch of republicans went away while another one that almost reached the top did a boom-a-rang (sp). And now all the bunch of republicans are coming home. Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Sad what the Bush regime has cost Americans. But I applaud AG Holder and the Department of Justice for correcting a wrong.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:40 PM
One way to look at this: a way to disgrace those Liberty U people and kick them out? (I have no idea whether Liberty U types were actually responsible for this mess though.)
June 4th, 2009 at 4:49 PM
I doubt Kohring or Kott have much of a future in Alaska politics. Whether the prosecutors were competent or not, the evidence was strong.
I’m disappointed DOJ didn’t do their job– we had hoped they were our lifeline to save ourselves from all the crooks and corporations who wish to buy out our State government. As is often the topic here at Mudflats, Alaska’s government is in deep trouble. Just as ‘Generalissimo is still dead,’ Alaska is still in deep trouble. And the feds DIDN’T come to our rescue. We have to stop crying to the feds to rescue us– they won’t.
Now what?
June 4th, 2009 at 4:51 PM
I think that the Bush Dept.of Justice got stuck with Ted Steven’s case, and committed enough fouls to throw the game. Ditto for these two as well. This was the same bunch that used tricks to get minorities thrown off the voting rolls, for example. If someone didn’t “play ball,” we saw 9 federal attorneys who were fired. This whole thing was orchestrated by Karl Rove.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Oh, my head hurts. I feel like I’m living in an alternate universe where up is down. Is Allen gonna walk, too? Sometimes I wonder how much longer I can live in this state; it’s detrimental to my mental health.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:10 PM
@Pat in WA state: I understand and share your frustration, but I agree with RouletteRog on this; this needs to be done right, and it seems that it was not. Would you feel the same way if the old cases that were brought back into the limelight were murder cases that were mishandled? I am glad that someone, at least, is looking through old cases to determine if justice truly was served. I think the outcome on these two perps will be the same, but it does need to be done right. Please understand I’m not trying to point fingers. Just another perspective.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:33 PM
I have to say that as an attorney, I am no longer very surprised to see prosecutorial misconduct. There seems to have been an uptick in this type of behavior during the time that the alleged “law and order” loving right wing has been in vogue. Let’s hope that things will change now that the temperament of the majority of the electorate has moved somewhat to the left.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:41 PM
The echo chamber seems to be very worried about this!
‘Speaking of the Feds overreaching. Unbelievable!’
a twit from the twit:
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/pdf/PR-DoL_AppealonJuneauAccessProject_060409.pdf
Then:
“This admin is out of control. And they are going after the good gov ’cause she DARES to speak out against him.”
Why would they be so concerned, I wonder???? What do they mean “this admin. is out of control? What about the last 8 yrs??? How exactly are they “going after her?”
Oh, “dares to speak out against HIM” Its all Obama’s fault now…!
There not worried that these jailbirds might SAY something against the GINO are they? Nah…its Obama…George Soros (he’s behind Crew dontcha know) Alxerod.
The complete idiocy of the freepers! But ya know those jailbirds, if there is a new trial, maybe they will sing a different song? GINO was a nobody, but now, some idiotic people want her to run for prez. Hmmmm!
Could be a way to “sing your way to freedom” Stevens is 82, he won’t last long in jail, but GINO, well she has her whole life ahead of her…that’s a long time in the greybar hotel, just sayin’
June 4th, 2009 at 5:42 PM
The echo chamber seems to be very worried about this!
‘Speaking of the Feds overreaching. Unbelievable!’
a twit from the twit:
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/pdf/PR-DoL_AppealonJuneauAccessProject_060409.pdf
Then:
“This admin is out of control. And they are going after the good gov ’cause she DARES to speak out against him.”
Why would they be so concerned, I wonder???? What do they mean “this admin. is out of control? What about the last 8 yrs??? How exactly are they “going after her?”
Oh, “dares to speak out against HIM” Its all Obama’s fault now…!
There not worried that these jailbirds might SAY something against the GINO are they? Nah…its Obama…George Soros (he’s behind Crew dontcha know) Alxerod.
The complete idiocy of the freepers! But ya know those jailbirds, if there is a new trial, maybe they will sing a different song? GINO was a nobody, but now, some idiotic people want her to run for prez. Hmmmm!
Could be a way to “sing your way to freedom” Stevens is 82, he won’t last long in jail, but GINO, well she has her whole life ahead of her…that’s a long time in the greybar hotel, just sayin’
June 4th, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Crystalwolf said: “GINO, well she has her whole life ahead of her…that’s a long time in the greybar hotel, just sayin’”
One can only hope…
June 4th, 2009 at 6:02 PM
lynnrockets said: “I have to say that as an attorney, I am no longer very surprised to see prosecutorial misconduct. There seems to have been an uptick in this type of behavior during the time that the alleged “law and order” loving right wing has been in vogue. Let’s hope that things will change now that the temperament of the majority of the electorate has moved somewhat to the left.”
Coming from the other side as a former juror, I was shocked at the bias that other jurors displayed. They seemed not to realize that they needed at least to attempt to view the evidence with the least amount of personal bias as possible. They brought their biases into the jury room and made their decisions based on it. It left me with a sense that no one could get a fair trial by jury.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:04 PM
TBNTJudy Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Crystalwolf said: “GINO, well she has her whole life ahead of her…that’s a long time in the greybar hotel, just sayin’”
One can only hope…
~~~~~~~~~~~
I think she should be very afraid, if they get to present new evidence…Alaska is so corrupt, Even if we did not know her nature, it would almost be impossible for her to escape the tentacles of corruption…but in 2007 she was a “nobody” but now, might their info on her be different, more “enlightening” now? JMO, I am not up on all the info about the trials and such so I could be off track, totally, I’m really just speculating really…but she would be a “big fish” to throw @ THE FEDS!
just sayin’
June 4th, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Yes, Holder is doing the right thing. Hope, though, that the forthcoming AK investigations will go more smoothy… just sayin’
June 4th, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Sarah Palin sure is a funny one… when it’s not about her, it’s all about her. When it’s all about her, it’s just a bunch of frivolous crap.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:53 PM
This makes me want to cry. Is there NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD, REALLY?
I BELIEVE Arnold said it best in the classic 80’s kill-em-all cop movie RED HEAT:
Ivan Danko (Arnie): Chinese find way. Right after revolution, they round up all drug dealers, all drug addicts, take them to public square, and shoot them in back of head.
Art Ridzik: Ah, it’d never work here. F-ing politicians wouldn’t go for it.
Ivan Danko: Shoot them first.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Only good comes when injustice finds remedy!
June 4th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Greytdog Δ Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 4:29 PM
OT but here’s HuffPo’s take on Palin http://tinyurl.com/pdbsm9
************************************************************************************
Pinocchio in Drag: Sarah Palin’s Latest Lies!! Greytdog. OT or not, this is NOT to be missed!!
Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn is at work on a book about Sarah Palin and her role in American politics, to be published by Macmillan/St. Martin’s in 2010.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:54 PM
I hope it comes out before November is all.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:10 PM
Holder cleaning up the mistakes of Bush’s DOJ is NOT the same thing as Kott & Kohring being innocent, although I fear many Alaskans…pardon me…Republican Alaskans…will see it that way.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:57 PM
So, my understand is, the DoJ is responsible for investigating and prosecuting violations of federal laws, and enforcing immigration laws in court, to which they provide information, and represent US interests while contesting citizenship and exportation. Which I have, over the past few years, heard a great deal about, as many immigrants have found their cases being opposed in a very dodgy fashion.
So… why is the DoJ, and Eric Holder, concentrating their efforts on our poor, misunderstood and jailed POLITICIANS? I haven’t heard of other “victims” being given a mea culpa, and an open door, have you?
This just reeks of the same influence as the refusal to hold any past administration officals to task for their Constitutional crimes. Our politicians are becoming as protected a species as in any monarchy. Or theocracy. And that opinion is based on what I see, not on any political viewpoint!
June 4th, 2009 at 9:08 PM
Okay. Eric Holder. You are letting loose two guys who were caught on tape taking bribe money because you say that their trial were “tainted”. Um, Mr. Attorney General, WHAT ABOUT DON SIEGELMAN? If Vic and Pete’s trials were tainted then his was downright polluted. Is Holder trying to show how fair and unbiased he is by releasing Republicans? Is he afraid that he will be accused of a witch hunt if he looks into the Siegelman case? And when is the AG going to really delve into the scandal involving the fired prosecutors? I don’t want scores settled, I want to see real justice for once.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:22 PM
I don’t know much about these 2 guys, but I’m guessing they are guilty as hell. Too bad the Shrub DOJ were so corrupt that we now have to let these guys go on “legalities”. OMG. What more will come out of these case reviews?
When are we going to turn our DOJ periscopes on the likes of Bush, Rove, Rice, Rumsfeld and the rest? I say we double up the personnel at the DOJ and devote 1/2 for the review of the botched Bush era stuff, and the other half go for the Bushies and their crimes.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Here’s MY question (and I know ABSOLUTELY nothing about this case other than what is on this post):
If they were so BLATANTLY guilty and mountains of evidence attest to that, why, then, would the DoJ play games with a few pieces of evidence that might be favorable? It’s not like the favorable stuff could outweigh the unfavorable stuff. They would still have been convicted and jailed, right?
It seems to me that if they wanted the convictions, they could have done it fairly and completely, whether or not the “favorable” evidence was brought to light.
Bush DoJ = A mess.
Holder = Clean Up Committee.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:39 AM
samper, your question goes right to my point yesterday about the Petumenos “investigation” of Palin’s Troopergate complaint against herself: that it didn’t matter that she lied under oath (saying she didn’t know about it)because she wasn’t obliged to stop her husband from harassing Walt Monegan anyway.
Petumenos knew she was lying. But he said that her perjury in this case wouldn’t make any difference because he had already determined there was no case to answer. But Petumenos is only a shabby local lawyer, and the Personnel Board is very far removed from a court of law.
Maybe Holder feels a need to hear a judge say, “It’s evidence but it doesn’t count”.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:26 AM
The whole point of every facet of the Bush administration was to make government so unworkable and ineffective, that the “people” would want it dismantled except for the military. Putting idiots and unqualified morons into high positions in all departments was a hallmark of the Bush administration. The results will be felt for decades to come.
From bad prosecutions comes a massive distrust of the federal legal system. In order to clean it up each and every person the Bush administration shoved into it must be removed. The same with the EPA and all other departments of the federal government. The investigative agencies need to be over hauled as well. Without this massive colon cleansing, the same stuff we see in Alaska will crop up all over the USA in every part of our government.
The Bush administration was the final culmination of Grover Norquists “drown government in the bathtub” ideology.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:08 AM
Next thing you know, they’re going to release Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the guiltiest of the guilty and the most corrupt of the corrupt. I may heave if they do.
I just want someone to make the Bush Administration pay. I want fines. I want jail time. I want a lot of court cases. Because I want this front, center and all over the new globally that we don not tolerate corruption or incompetance. And with Bush we had both. I want admittance of guilt. I want apologies. Lots of apologies. And I want all of the fingers pointed.
Send them to the Hague if necessary. I think it’s a shame we can’t clean our own laundry but must outsource it. But this is one case of outsourcing I’m glad to support.
One way tickets to the Netherlands.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:18 AM
39 samper Says: June 5th, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Here’s MY question (and I know ABSOLUTELY nothing about this case other than what is on this post):
If they were so BLATANTLY guilty and mountains of evidence attest to that, why, then, would the DoJ play games with a few pieces of evidence that might be favorable?
_________
Because it’s not a comparison; the rules are clear: if the prosecution has documents/information that is favorable to the defendant, they are obligated to turn it over. This is not case specific; it must be done in all cases, be it Republican or Democratic.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:27 AM
“I want to know what undisclosed evidence that may have been favorable to the defense negates video footage of Vic Kohring and Pete Kott in a hotel room taking CASH.”
Me, too, AKM. Kohring was my representative. A new trial is in order if due process was not afforded him, though I will be exceedingly angry if the charges are dismissed, given the evidence we have seen to date.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:58 AM
ValleyIndependent–oh, you have my sympathies for the time you had him as your rep!
June 5th, 2009 at 11:43 AM
I don’t think the evidence wasn’t turned over out of some diabolical plot to get the case overtuned down the line. I think that many people in th the Bush JD was just incompetitent and they didn’t follow the rules all of the time either because they didn’t know them or they were just being careless. I can see a lot of reasons why Holder would be going through these cases now. First of all it is the right thing to do. Second, there were a lot of people hired into the JD that they want to get rid off, and showing incompetence or illigal behavior in in these cases may allow them to be fired some of them for cause. I am also betting one of the most incompetient aspects of these cases is that they didn’t use bargain with guys to make them spill the beans about bigger crimes and more inportant officials, and if there is a retrial being threatened , those kinds of things can be revisted. It also shows that Obama’s JD is behaving in an ethical manner which will be pointed out when they go after much bigger fish.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:32 PM
The U.S.Justice Department this afternoon asked that two former Alaska state legislators imprisoned after convictions in public corruption cases be released, saying their trials were tainted by the failure of prosecutors to disclose favorable information.
Ok, now this pisses me off. The Obama DOJ is doing something like this and they are allowing Don Siegelman to be sent back to jail. There is tons of evidence of prosecutorial misconduct in the case of Siegelman. So why is the Obama DOJ not interceding with his case?
June 5th, 2009 at 8:57 PM
#45 Actually, Kohring was a pretty good representative, at first. He is pleasant in person and was extremely conscientious about returning phone calls and letting you know he actually understood your issues and was willing to work on them.
He took a lot of flak one year for securing money for a much-needed fire truck for our neighbor to the north, Houston. It wasn’t popular in Wasilla, but it was the right thing to do.
In later years, he couldn’t seem to get any legislation passed, so I started voting for his opponents.
I’m very sad he let himself and us down by taking Allen’s money, and I think he should be retried rather than having the case dismissed, but I’m not sure there’s any point in sending him back to the gray bar hotel. Let him go home on time served and take care of his elderly parents.