Aryan gang captain contends prosecutors and his own lawyer lied (TX)
By Dane Schiller
June 9, 2016
Updated: June 11, 2016 6:09pm
... Rusty Duke - who in 2014 became the last of 73 people convicted in a massive Houston-based anti-gang probe - took the witness stand Thursday in an unusual hearing to have his guilty plea and 18-year prison sentence set aside. The disagreement comes as about 97 percent of federal criminal cases result in plea agreements, saving the time and expense of trials and enabling defendants to get more lenient sentences.
Duke contends he was repeatedly promised behind the scenes that he'd be sentenced to only 10 years only for drug-dealing crimes, not the attempted murder of a fellow gang member who had betrayed him ...
Duke's former lawyer and two prosecutors also took the witness stand Thursday. The government contends Duke knew he'd get no less than 18 years in the case, as described in the plea agreement and other documents in the court file. Duke originally had faced up to life in prison.
Robert Jones, the longtime Houston lawyer who originally represented Duke, testified ..."I believe Mr. Duke's statement in the transcript are consistent with his attempt to scam everybody all the time" ...
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Aryan-gang-captain-contends-prosecutors-and-his-7974040.php