In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, standout prosecutor M. Kendall Day advised the court that he will be representing the people of the United States against Kevin Ring. A champion of justice, Mr. Day is an Abramoff scandal ace, with at least five convictions under his belt including James Hirni, Tony Rudy, Michael Scanlon and Neil Volz. Mr. Day even signed off on the plea agreement for Jack Abramoff himself. The courtroom field general has also been called upon to clean up the mess left behind after the severely flawed prosecution of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Ak.).
The ACR Blog is pleased to see a lawyer of Mr. Day's skill and ethics join the Kevin Ring prosecution team.
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18 comments:
ACR
I think it would be very generous to catorgoize Day as a stand out prosecutor.. none of the cases you cite ever went to court... Kendall Day's entire career (all couple years of it) is based on threats and coerceing pleas...an MO that seems to be out of fashion with today's SCOTUS.
He is Tom Cruise in a Few Good Men - all bravado and no substance. Maybe he'll perform - or maybe he'll be exposed as the empty suit golden boy Welch protege. Time will tell..I suspect the suits at DOJ are giving him the Ring case to redeem himself, knowing it's an uphill climb.
I wish I believed in miracles like you do...
I got a kick out of the musical addition to your post. Haven't seen you do that before.
Guilty pleas are as good as jury verdicts in my book. Better if they include cooperation & testimony against others. I hope Day's as successful with this case as he's been with the previous ones.
It's worth noting that all the guilty pleas he's gotten (except for Trevor) will be vacated by the end of June since he's used the HSF's vagueness to achieve his means.
If you still think the ends (Day's career) justifies the means then you have your own biases and don't care about justice. At least Day will get the pages he wanted in the law school books, a la, Eliot Spitzer... Law school students will read about him - just not in the sense he dreamed of.
Keeping it out of court keeps the taxpayer tab low.
Since the violation of the public trust has probably cost us billions as a result of this infection -- I don't mind that they achieve some measure of justice on the cheap.
Maybe they should have used Kendal Day to prosecute John Doolittle? Why not use this bulldog for justice against Tom Delay?
Seems like some of the dumber commenters here - e.g. those who criticize Day - have never heard of the brilliant Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, who wrote a book many centuries ago called the Art of War. It was probably the first book ever on how to fight asymetrically, or to put it another way, "to win without fighting is best."
There are many ways to do this, but one of the simplest is to appear so powerful (e.g. build your case) to your opponent that he/she gives up without putting up a fight. Isn't that the essence of a plea deal?
Tribe Leader Cedric Cromwell is very involved wtih our local politicians here in Mass . Do you have any background on the Mashpee /Ambramoff connection?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Mr. Doolittle also intervened in an effort to help another Abramoff client, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts, gain federal recognition"
Somehow I doubt it was coincidence that you used the music from Patton. You probably saw Gibney's movie Casino Jack, where he disclosed it was one of the favorite theme songs of a young Abramoff (College Republican days) when he, Grover Norquist, and the uber-fraud (but always pious) Ralph Reed first began their plotting and scheming.
A whole generation of corrupt College GOPers used this as their theme song, to rally the troops to fight back against the "libbrals", using any means necessary. Dirty tricks, fraud, etc included. Remember the idiot one who carved Obama's initials into her face and said some crazed black dude ambushed her at the ATM??
Anon (June 14, 2010 9:28 PM):
I knew you'd like this.
~ACR
Anon (June 14, 2010 10:15 PM):
Since the violation of the public trust has probably cost us billions as a result of this infection -- I don't mind that they achieve some measure of justice on the cheap.
I agree. And consider that the prosecutions in the Abramoff scandal will (hopefully) deter the next generation of corrupt Congressmen/staffers. The resources spent on prosecuting the Abramoff scandal have a preemptive effect too. How much money does that save?
~ACR
Anon (June 15, 2010 4:56 AM):
Here is a list of all my posts that mention the Masphee. The most relevant one is this one where I wrote about the conviction of Mashpee chief Glenn Marshall.
A friend of the ACR Blog recently reminded me that Mr. Marshall's 41-month sentence is the second longest in the Abramoff scandal behind Mr. Abramoff himself.
~ACR
Anon (June 14, 2010 9:49 PM):
It's worth noting that all the guilty pleas he's gotten (except for Trevor) will be vacated by the end of June since he's used the HSF's vagueness to achieve his means.
I think you are mistaken. M. Kendall Day, the conscientious and prescient lawyer that he is, wisely had many of his plea agreements include charges other than HSF. This is true for Messrs. Abramoff, Rudy, Scanlon and Volz.
I guess that shows Mr. Day's brilliant foresight.
~ACR
"I think you are mistaken. M. Kendall Day, the conscientious and prescient lawyer that he is, wisely had many of his plea agreements include charges other than HSF. This is true for Messrs. Abramoff, Rudy, Scanlon and Volz.
I guess that shows Mr. Day's brilliant foresight."
ACR:
Can you please tell me which of these cases your "brilliant" lawyer won in a court of law before a jury? In fact, isn't it true that the first time he actually faced a judge in a trial setting, he was slapped with a bill of particulars because he didn't have a case on the facts presented? I don't understand your infatuation with this guy. I am confident you will be disappointed at the end of the day on many fronts. Day has one move, and only one move, and Fraser called his bluff.
Is this the same guy?
http://www.fathermag.com/1006/Fathers-Day/
Anonymous 7:23
Yes, Kevin Ring is the same person who shamelessly wrote about what it means to be a father for "Father Magazine" in what appears to me a "poor me" pathetic rant. If he wants sympathy for the FBI raid or for his misery, which seems to be the consequences for breaking the law and allowing thousands of foreign workers to be screwed, he gets none from me. I hope he spends years and years in prison so he can think about all of the people he harmed. If he wants, I can send photos of the victim so it can really sink it because I truly think that Abramoff and Ring think of the foreign contract workers that they screwed as insignificant, faceless and disposable.
Mr. Ring may care about his two little girls, which is praiseworthy, but his work with Abramoff and the CNMI resulted in the destruction of the lives of many hundreds of children and their families. Mr. Ring may want to consider how his lies in covering up labor and human rights abuses and his work to block reform legislation with co-conspirator slime like Reps. Doolittle, Delay, Pombo, Hall, Schaffer, Young and other despicable US Congressmen perpetuated abuses and suffering of thousands of children, men and women.
Maybe he would like to answer to the young girls who were victims of human trafficking. One, Katrina, was 14 when she was trafficked to the CNMI and forced to perform sex acts on stage and sold into prostitution. The CNMI and their evil lobbyists ATTACKED her to cover up their lie that their were no abuses. Some of these men were fathers -how sick; how evil.
Perhaps Ring has a solution to the thousands of US citizen children who lay awake at night knowing that at any moment their nonresident parents could be sent back to the homelands where they have no more connections, no jobs, no future. Maybe he could explain how his actions caused an evil system that has allowed children to stay in the CNMI alone while their parents were sent back to homelands. I would like to hear him explain why there are $6.1 million in unpaid wages owed to foreign contract workers most of them fathers trying to support their children.
Kevin Ring gets no sympathy from me. NONE!
Wow. Assuming thats not an alias Wendy doesn't seem to like Ring. I went and read his fathers day piece to after reading this and I have to agree there is a Linda Ronstat quality to it: "poor poor pitiful me." But theres something else that bugs me about Ring. He has shown no remorse for what he has done, no desire to right the wrongs, no desire to come clean, no desire to get on with his life by accepting responsibility for what he has done. What kind of lessons are these to be teaching his girls? That its OK to lie, cheat, skim off the top, maybe even bribe, etc as long as you hire a good enough lawyer and get away with it on technicalities? Is this the way he is raising his kids?
Instead he has dug in his heels and continues to claim he is innocent of all charges and now expects another costly trial that you and I will have to pay for. If I remember correctly some of these other guys who got caught admitted their errors and have sought to do some good in this miserable world. Neal Voltz I think was one. Instead Ring sits wherever he sits these days and has become a self proclamed free lance writer with words that could be set to country music. Another great lesson to impart to your kids. Stonewalling.
Some time ago in Ring's attempt to be a good lobbyist he became a bad lobbyist. I cant help but wonder if hes now repeating the same mistake with respect to parenting. Food for thought I suppose. It does seem like he is totally focused on himself and has no ability to see how his behavior affects others in the world. Whether they live many miles away or in his own house. If he wants to move ahead in life, he should throw himself at the mercy of the judge, pay restitution, and then do all he can to make things right. Otherwise, this guy will be tormented his entire life. The psycological burden will only get worse with each passing year. Even if he does manage to get off on a technicality in his next trial. Especially if he does in my opinion as it will eat up whatever soul he may still possess.
I think its already eating up his soul. These last two comments made me go read the post too. Ring's piece is riddled with guilt and torment and reminds me of someone doing everything they can to convince themselves that they are ok. But its clear he isn't ok.
Well, Obama cares about dads.
http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/06/22/doj-creating-center-to-help-ex-con-dads-be-good-parents/
Excellent point, Anonymous. Because trials are expensive and cost taxpayers a lot of money, a defendant who otherwise believes himself to be guilty should simply plead guilty instead.
And, excellent point, Anonymous. It makes Ring a bad parent by demonstrating to his childern that he is fighting to prove his innocence rather than meekly giving in to the Feds as so many others have done in the case. Always, always, always give up! Great lesson to take to college.
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