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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 12:29 pm Post subject: Judge May Dismiss Charge Against Rosen |
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One charge down, two to go.
This guy is going to skate.
First you have an 'L.A. JURY' who is clueless as to the intricacies of campaign laws.
and then, it's Hillary's lawyers who are coordinating Rosen's defense,
which is I don't remember, I can't recall, I was unaware.
Brings to mind the Rush Limbaugh parody song on Hillary's testimony:
Try to remember, my mind's in a blender, it's JEL-looo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/21/politics/21clinton.html
| Quote: | Judge May Dismiss Charge Against Ex-Aide to Clinton
By LESLIE EATON
Published: May 21, 2005
LOS ANGELES, May 20 - In a blow to federal prosecutors, a judge said on Friday that he would probably toss out one of three criminal charges against Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser, David F. Rosen.
The comments by the judge, A. Howard Matz, came in the course of a day that also featured testimony from two men who are stars in their individual firmaments: Stan Lee, a co-creator of Spider-Man, and Harold Ickes, the longtime adviser to former President Bill Clinton and former deputy chief of staff at the White House.
Both men were called by lawyers for Mr. Rosen, who faces three counts of causing false filings to be made to the Federal Election Commission; each count could bring him five years in prison. The government has accused him of vastly underreporting the expenses of a Hollywood fund-raiser in August 2000, in the hopes of aiding Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign or his own career.
Mr. Rosen has denied this, saying through his lawyers that he was himself misled about the costs of the lavish event.
Mr. Rosen's lawyers asked Judge Matz on Friday to throw out the whole case, contending that the government had failed to prove that any underreporting affected the Federal Election Commission. They also continued to argue that the case should not have been brought in California. The judge said he would consider those arguments.
But the judge was receptive to the defense contention that one count should be dropped because the government did not prove that Mr. Rosen had anything to do with the election-commission filing involved. In dealing with such motions, a judge must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, Judge Matz said, "but that requires that there be evidence, not ether."
Unless prosecutors come up with better arguments than the ones they presented in the courtroom, he said, "I'm likely to grant the motion."
In a brief appearance, Mr. Lee described the gala, at which he was host, as "the biggest moment of my life; I was on stage and introduced President Clinton."
And he told the jury that in connection with the gala he had made a $225,000 loan to Peter F. Paul, a co-founder of the now-defunct Internet company Stan Lee Media and the man who paid for the gala. Mr. Lee said the loan was never repaid.
Mr. Paul is one of the people Mr. Rosen says misled him about the costs of the gala. Mr. Paul has complained for years that he spent millions of dollars on the event only because he wanted Mr. Clinton to work on behalf of the company, which did not occur.
Mr. Paul has also sometimes said that he wanted a presidential pardon for two long-ago criminal convictions, involving fraud and intent to distribute cocaine. He is currently awaiting sentencing on newer charges, after pleading guilty on Long Island to manipulating the stock of Stan Lee Media.
Mr. Ickes appeared because he was an unpaid senior adviser in Mrs. Clinton's campaign and was seen by many, he conceded, as the boss.
In his testimony, he rebutted the prosecution's contentions that Mr. Rosen's job was in jeopardy in 2000, and despite his own admitted reputation as a penny-pincher, he refused to say that the gala was too costly.
"It was touted as a big deal, with people who were stars, people who wanted to be stars and people who had been stars," so it was not surprising that it was more expensive than other fund-raising events, Mr. Ickes said.
He did seem momentarily surprised when Peter R. Zeidenberg, one of the prosecutors, told him that Mrs. Clinton's campaign had received only $57,000 in contributions from the gala.
But he quickly added that what really mattered was "how much the whole deal raised." That's because under the complex campaign finance laws of the time, donations that the candidate could not accept could be accepted by other political committees, which could use them for things like get-out-the-vote efforts and advertising about issues.
According to calculations by both the prosecution and the defense, the event raised about $1 million, but most of the benefit did not go directly to Mrs. Clinton's campaign.
The intricacies of campaign finance laws and of accounting have been explored by both sides, sometimes tangling up the lawyers and apparently bewildering the jury. Indeed, Judge Matz said that he would be surprised if any of the jurors had been able to follow the discussion. "It would be a lot more comprehensible," he said, "to read the Internal Revenue Code." |
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 18 Sep 2004
Posts: 1579
Location: Penna
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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Matz is a District judge in the 9th Circus and a Clintonista appointed in July 1998.  What would you expect? He apparently has an instictive sense that jurors are stupid.  This clown was the one who dared the govt. to prove he did not have jurisdiction in a case where he declared terrorists have Constutional rights under US law.  This another reason we have to nuke this filibuster thing for Appeals and higher level judges. They are the ones who can overule these (_!_) decisions.
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8th Army Korea 68-69 |
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Tanya
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 570
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/5/18/94801.shtml
Bush Prosecutor Nixes Bombshell Rosen Tape
"In a surprise move that shocked even the judge at the trial of Hillary Clinton's former finance director, David Rosen, prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg announced yesterday that he would not introduce the government's strongest evidence that Rosen is guilty - the Hillary aide's own tape-recorded admission implicating him in election fraud.
"The government does not intend to introduce the tape or elicit any testimony from the witness about that conversation," Zeidenberg told Judge A. Howard Matz." |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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I gotta wonder about this prosecutor????
Zeidenberg also opened the trial by repeating Judge Matz' contention that
this trial has nothing to do with Her Highness Hillary. WHAAAT???
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 18 Sep 2004
Posts: 1579
Location: Penna
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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| shawa wrote: | I gotta wonder about this prosecutor????
Zeidenberg also opened the trial by repeating Judge Matz' contention that
this trial has nothing to do with Her Highness Hillary. WHAAAT??? |
I think they may just want to assure the MSM and be PC and tell folks this is not a "WITCH HUNT" as it were. Ahem.  
What a circus.
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8th Army Korea 68-69 |
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