Jun 19, 2009 9:59 pm US/Central
New Accusations In City Hall Case
Reporting
Jack Fink
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
There are new accusations in the Dallas City Hall public corruption case.
One of the defendants, former Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill claims federal prosecutors didn't disclose evidence that could benefit his defense... until now. All this on the weekend before the extortion and bribery trial is set to begin.
Hill's attorney filed a motion Friday asking the judge to appoint a special master to investigate.
Legal experts say prosecutors are required to disclose exculpatory or favorable evidence to hill as required to guarantee justice.
Prosecutors haven't responded to the allegations yet in court.
The question, did hill conspire with two of the defendants, Kevin Dean and John Lewis, who already pleaded guilty?
In his motion Friday, Hill says, "this evidence has been in the government's possession since 2005, well before the indictment was issued and well before the guilty pleas were entered. Yet counsel has only now discovered it. This is a gross miscarriage of justice." That evidence is under seal and out of public view.
John Ratcliffe is a former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern district of Texas. Ratcliffe says, "The accusation itself of prosecutorial misconduct is not uncommon. To determine that prosecutorial misconduct occurred is pretty rare."
Before jury selection begins Monday, U.S. Judge Barbara Lynn will hold a hearing to determine if Hill, his attorney, and representatives and any other defendant violated her gag order from last Friday.
In interviews with WFAA-TV and the Dallas Morning News yesterday, Hill accused the Bush administration of targeting him because he's a Democrat.
Prosecutors previously rejected in court similar claims Hill made last year.
Richard Roper is the former U. S. Attorney in Dallas whose office filed the charges. Now in private practice, he says, "The best way to see whether a prosecution is politically motivated, you end up looking at the evidence presented at trial, and it either passes the smell test or it doesn't."
The trial will take place nearly four years to the day after FBI agents raided Hill's city hall office, his house, and car. The FBI also raided the homes and offices of other defendants.
The FBI gathered tens of thousands of wire-tapped phone calls, surveillance photos, and documents in its investigation. Ratcliffe says, "that's the role of the prosecutor here is to take voluminous information like this and to narrow it down and to make it a simple theory the jury can understand."
On Friday, Judge Lynn also ordered WFAA-TV to submit its taped interview of Don Hill. A clerk says the station complied with the order. The station declined comment.
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