defendants ask for new trial, reveals prosecutor misconduct for not turning over evidence to the defense.
What started as a motion to release a former New Mexico gun dealer and his son from jail until their sentencing date for federal gun form convictions will turn into a request for a new trial, a source close to the case and courtroom observer of yesterday’s hearing in the United States District Court in Las Cruces, N.M., has informed Gun Rights Examiner. Another report, filed today by consistently informed and reliable chroniclers of the case, documents due process violations via information withheld from the defense, and reveals a key government witness against the family is himself under investigation.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/being-thankful-for-less-pain/
http://www.examiner.com/article/records-don-t-back-witness-for-the-prosecution-reese-gun-case
http://www.examiner.com/article/timeline-appears-to-conflict-with-agent-s-testimony-reese-case
In a further action suggesting serious government misconduct, the source claims “The prosecution filed papers with the Court a couple of weeks ago and asked the Court to keep them "’sealed from the defense.’
“That did not happen,” the source continued. “When the defense attorneys got the papers is when the decision to file a motion for a new trial was done. “The Judge [Robert C. Brack] ordered the attorneys to file the motion by Dec. 28, and the prosecution to answer so the motion will be heard the week of Jan. 14, 2013.
“The Judge was not pleased with the information the prosecution provided him in this case,” the source revealed.
That may be an understatement. An observer for the Luna County Tea Party Patriots, the group that has been doing the most comprehensive eyewitness reporting on the ordeal of the Reese family since its inception, called the hearing developments “stunning”
in a must-read report posted today.
“It was serious enough that the Chief of the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s office from Albuquerque had to come down and explain things to Judge Brack and then apologize to the judge,” the report reveals.
“What [the judge] wanted to know is why the information contained in the sealed indictment, information that the prosecutor had before the trial was concluded, wasn’t turned over as ... evidence to the defense,” the report continues, explaining how the Supreme Court has ruled that violates a defendant’s 14th Amendment right to due process.
“[T]he Chief of the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s Office for N.M. let it be known today that XXXXX in law enforcement, who testified in the Reese trial, is under investigation by XXXXXX,” the report revealed, redacting information due to “the probability that there is an ongoing active investigation involved," but nonetheless sharing that these revelations resulted in audible gasps from courtroom observers.
“At issue is his credibility as a prosecution witness against the Reeses,” the report concluded. “During the hearing today, Mr. Gorence [the defense attorney] stated that had the jury known this information the verdict many have resulted in acquittals on all counts.”
“The judge then left the bench, and the guys were taken back to jail (in their chains and shackles) to wait until mid-January for the judge to determine if they can be released prior to the date of the new trial,” Gun Rights Examiner’s source reported.