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Justice Derailed by Politics
June 9 – On December 16, 2004, a brutal murder took place in the small community of Skidmore, Missouri. Bobbi Jo Stinnett, eight months pregnant, a breeder of rat terrier dogs, was strangled to death and her female fetus was cut from her body.
On December 17th in the United States District Court Western District of Missouri, a Criminal Complaint, Case Number 04-00210-01-JTM, United States of America v. Lisa M. Montgomery was filed. Attached to the criminal complaint was a sworn affidavit, subsection (g) therein states as follows: After being advised of her constitutional rights and having waived those rights, Lisa Montgomery thereafter confessed to having strangled Stinnett and removing the fetus. Lisa Montgomery further admitted the baby she had was Stinnett’s baby and that she had lied to her husband about given (sic) birth to a child.”
Todd Graves, the Attorney General for the Western District of Missouri had served as the prosecuting attorney for the 6th District of Platte County from 1994 until he was nominated to be the Attorney General for the Western District in October 2001. He had tried one death penalty case for the United States and understood the prosecution’s role in such a case. Todd Graves understood public service and is concerned that the reputation of the Justice Department has been compromised by the actions of the current administration. Mr. Graves is also the brother of Sam Graves, Republican congressional representative for the 6th District of Missouri.
In January of 2006, Todd Graves, US Attorney for the United States District Court was asked to resign his position “to give another person a chance to serve” in the Western District of Missouri, he accepted that decision without complaint. His only request to continue to serve was to complete the prosecution of a single case. In fact, on January 10, 2006, he had filed a motion in opposition to the defense request to continue the trial for Lisa Montgomery to February 2007. At that time, he probably knew that his tenure was about to end and this would be his last opportunity to press the prosecution of the case in The USA vs. Lisa Montgomery. The clock was ticking on his removal from office.
Mr. Graves testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on June 5, 2007, that, in retrospect, he knew that his tenure with the Justice Department had gotten off on the wrong foot because of one of his answers when he first interviewed to become a US Attorney. He stated that “When I first interviewed with the department I was asked to give the panel one attribute that describes me. I said, ‘independence.’ Apparently, that was the wrong attitude.”
Looking at the record of his subsequent replacement, it appears that he was correct in his initial assessment. As a mandate from the Bush administration, the Justice Department was looking to replace the Attorney Generals in at least eight districts with handpicked political party loyalists; people who would disregard the needs of the citizens in the districts so that the priorities of the politicians would take precedence over the prosecution of crimes that have affected the communities and the citizens thereof.
Under the rules of the revised USA PATRIOT Act, the United States Attorney Generals no longer had to go through the rigorous examination and confirmation by the United States Senate. The new method required only that the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, recommend their placement in the various districts of the country. Thus, in March 2006, Bradley Schlozman replaced Todd Graves. Mr. Schlozman had no prior prosecutorial experience and had never appeared in any District Court to prosecute a criminal case. His legal experience was as a clerk for three years and a lawyer for 2 more. In November 2001, he became an aide in the office of the deputy attorney general.
Mr. Schlozman was eventually promoted to acting head of the Civil Rights Division. As such he recommended a Texas redistricting map and a Georgia photo ID voting law.
After he became the Attorney General for the Western District of Missouri, he pursued, in spite of clear rules to the contrary, questionable charges against Democratic leaning groups near the time of the 2006 elections. While real issues, like justice for Victoria Stinnett, were sidelined. It is a very clear policy of the Justice Department that no Attorney General file any charges could disrupt any election based on politics.
Mr. Schlozman also testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 5 and his testimony was rather difficult to understand, as most of his answers to any questions of substance were a fairly repetitive, “I don’t recall.” As of June 8, it appears that Mr. Schlozman plans to reappear before the Committee to “revise” his testimony.
It should be noted that Mr. Schlozman resigned his position of Attorney General for the Western District in April 2007 after the firings of several Attorney Generals had become questionable and the political scandal had been exposed.
The Senate is planning a vote of “no confidence” in Alberto Gonzales as the
Attorney General of the United States of America on Monday, June 10. There have been many violations of the public trust by the Justice Department under his guidance; the NSA spying controversy, approval of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison and now the politicization of the Attorney Generals.
At this time, Bush has nominated John Wood, former chief of staff to Michael Chertoff, secretary of homeland security, a cousin to Kit Bond, Senator (R-Mo) and he has subsequently been confirmed by the Senate to fill the position of Attorney General for the Western District of Missouri. He was sworn in on June the 8th and hopefully he will see that the needs of the citizens are the primary responsibility of the Attorney General, not the political expediency of making sure that any opposing political voices are silenced.
Here in Worth County and the Western District of Missouri, we are just hoping that Victoria Stinnett will not celebrate another birthday without seeing justice done and a trial that is not derailed by politics under this administration.
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