Like John Muehl, the District Attorney of Otsego County, NY.
In our e-mail exchange when I asked him to step off the already botched-up investigation into the burglary and attempted arson in our home, Muehl told me, among other interesting things, the following:
1) that evidence in a criminal case "belongs" to him, as a prosecutor, for the pendency of the criminal proceeding; and
2) that in 20 years as a prosecutor, Mr. Muehl never lost a piece of evidence.
Here are scans from Mr. Muehl's e-mail to me:
Well, I was a criminal defense attorney for many years, and I know that evidence does not "belong" to the prosecutor.
And, during those many years, I handled many criminal cases with Mr. Muehl, as a prosecutor, on the other side, and Mr. Muehl never told me that the evidence in the criminal case was in his custody, otherwise I would have immediately moved to dismiss felony cases brought on indictment for disqualification of Mr. Muehl and his office (a jurisdictional flaw when a disqualified prosecutor is present in the grand jury and especially when he directs the grand jury, as a prosecutor does).
And, Mr. Muehl has been, as a prosecutor, also the custodian of evidence in criminal cases, by his own admission, for 20 years, in two counties, Delaware and Otsego.
Based on his misguided perception that evidence in a criminal case "belongs" to a prosecutor until the end of criminal proceedings.
Since Mr. Muehl started his prosecutorial career, as far as I know, in Delaware County District Attorney's office under the supervision of the now-Delaware County judge Richard Northrup, all of felony convictions brought about by Judge Northrup are also subject for review of their validity.
So, I wonder, how many people did their time in state prison on invalid indictments muddled by John Muehl's handling of evidence in Delaware and Otsego Counties?
I will continue this investigation and report the results.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment