In rare memo, judge rips prosecutors (for Cunningham investigation)

[MindPilot]

Can any of you who may understand the legal machinations going on here better than I, please explain it to me?



A previously sealed court filing from a federal judge in San Diego criticized prosecutors for inaccurately describing the details surrounding the secret guilty plea of a figure in the Randy “Duke” Cunningham scandal.

In a highly unusual move, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns sent a 15-page brief of his own to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, curtly noting that the court filings of prosecutors “mischaracterizes substantial, relevant portions” of the case.

The brief by Burns also reveals some new details about the guilty plea of Thomas Kontogiannis, a Long Island financier who pleaded guilty to money laundering during a highly unusual secret hearing in February 2007. Kontogiannis was cooperating with federal officials in an “investigation implicating national security,” Burns wrote. And he was cooperating with Justice Department lawyers from the Southern District of New York – not, as some thought at the time, with prosecutors in San Diego.

Judges rarely write a brief in response to an appeal of one of their decisions. “It's extremely unusual,” said Shaun Martin, a law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law. “It's even more unusual to see a federal judge and the government sparring.”


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081102-9999-1m2plea.html