The judge simply claimed that he is "estranged" from his brother, did not see the nephew for a long time - and for that reason he is not biased. While the judge, of course, kept the defendant in question in pre-trial detention after the defendant asked the judge to recuse himself, lifted the stay he initially imposed on the proceedings while a writ of mandamus to remove him involuntarily was pending in the appellate court, when the defendant asked for as much as a bond hearing (to get out of the pre-trial detention) - and the judge, in the absence of a prohibition from the appellate court, scheduled a trial date, forcing the defendant to file a motion to speed up the prohibition.
The judge, John Adams, was involuntarily removed from the case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit on May 9, 2016.
What does that story have to do with what is happening in Omaha, Nebraska?
Well...
Let's see.
The mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, "chose" to appoint a City Prosecutor - a man whose office is supposed to bring criminal cases in front of the local County Judge.
The trick is that the chosen City Prosecutor is "coincidentally" the husband of the County Judge in question, which presents a conundrum - either the judge should recuse and all local criminal cases should be referred to another judge, or a special prosecutor must be appointed for all local criminal cases. In both situations, there will be additional (huge, and unnecessary) expenses for taxpayers.
So, what were the reasons Mayor Jean Stothert and City Attorney Paul Kratz who "selected" attorney Matt Kuhse to be the City Prosecutor prosecuting cases in front of Matt Kuhse's wife, Douglas County Judge Marcela Keim (a different last name, you see) despite the obvious, and irreconcilable, conflict of interest?
And why would the husband Matt Kuhse accept a position for his office to prosecute cases before his own wife/judge Marcela Keim? Which will obviously involve at least an appearance and a possibility of a peculiar type of ex parte communications in every case his office will handle in front of the judge - pillow-talk?
And, by the way, Judge Keim is reportedly one of 12 Douglas County judges - and, "coincidentally", the presiding judge of the 4th Judicial District of Nebraska?
Of course, where Matt Kuhse works now is also a conflict of interest with his wife's job - he works for the Douglas County Attorney's Office, while his wife is the Chief Judge of the 4th Judicial District overseeing the Douglas County Court - so, at least theoretically, Douglas County may not be prosecuted for any crimes because of the relationship.
And, the Douglas County attorney Don Kleine already reportedly noted that "Kuhse oversees other lawyers in the County Attorney’s Office, and there are no restrictions on those lawyers appearing in Keim’s courtroom", and that
“[t]hey’re both extremely, highly ethical people who I know will do nothing to jeopardize anyone’s fairness on any side.”
By the way, Matt Kuhse worked in this capacity, as a Douglas County prosecutor, since 1999:
And Keim is on the bench since 2011:
Keim is the presiding judge of the 4th Judicial District, not just the County Court, since 2016, and, "coincidentally", in the same year Keim is elevated to the position of Chief Judge of the 4th Judicial District, her husband is being promoted to the position of City Prosecutor where his salary nearly TRIPLES, see the current salary of the City's "interim prosecutor" Thomas Mumgaard:
And, of course, such a promotion of the Chief Judge's husband has nothing to do with the wife's position as a Chief Judge.
Because everyone involved in making the appointment, accepting the appointment and then presiding over and "supervising" cases handled by the husband and wife team, are all very highly ethical people.
One highly ethically person oversees attorneys under his supervision who appear in cases presided over by the other highly ethically person, his wife-judge - which is ALREADY a basis to REMOVE the judge, FIRE the husband and VACATE all cases so decided, for violation of due process and APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY reasons.
By the way, what Kuhse already supervised as an attorney in Douglas County was FELONY cases prosecuted in front of his wife - so both Kuhse and Keim should be already impeached and disbarred for that, and convictions so drummed up reversed.
Relationship through 1st degree affinity (marriage) between a prosecutor and a judge is a complete disqualification and a taboo, whether the actual prosecutor appears in the courtroom himself, or supervises the case remotely.
Talking about wrongful convictions!
The wife, of course, same as Judge John Adams in Ohio federal court, does not recuse - because her husband is "removed" from the case by "only" supervising those attorney who appear in front of his wife/judge, and not personally appearing in front of her.
And, in view of sanctions that the judge can impose upon attorneys for opponents who obviously can lose their livelihoods if they move to recuse (I was suspended in New York in November of 2015 for making motions to recuse a judge, attorney Christine Mire was suspended for making motions to recuse in Louisiana in 2016, the list of such attorneys is actually very long), attorneys for opponents prefer to sell out their clients not to jeopardize their own livelihoods.
And, since these appearances of husband-supervised attorneys in front of wife-judge continued, as I understand, for quite some time, the local governmental officials decided to secure their position even more, protecting themselves from possible prosecution, and to promote one of their own, a supervising attorney from the Douglas County Attorney's office, to the position of the City Prosecutor, a person who has an absolute discretion to bring or not to bring criminal prosecutions in the City.
And, the people involved in such an appointment, which clearly qualifies as a "criminal enterprise" under RICO, claim that there is no conflict of interest still, because the husband and the wife are both "highly ethical people", and "they would never".
So, the wife, as a Chief Judge, will supervise appointments of judges to criminal cases, or preside over such cases herself.
The husband will (1) decide which criminal cases to bring or not to bring - obviously sparing the local officials who were his prior bosses or colleagues - and (2) will supervise attorneys in his City Prosecutor's office to appear before either his wife as a judge, or in front of judges assigned to cases by his wife.
Beautiful.
And now, every single criminal defense attorney in the City of Omaha, Nebraska will be facing a dilemma whether to make a motion to recuse the entire court and disqualify the prosecutor, or sell the attorney's client and allow the appearance of case-fixing, to preserve the attorney's livelihood.
Lovely.
All of those highly ethical people in Omaha, Nebraska.
And - the attorney disciplinary committee in the State of Nebraska, reportedly supported the appointment of husband to supervise criminal cases in front of wife:
"[Nebraska counsel for discipline Mark Weber] said in an interview that this type of situation has come up in other states, and courts have 'resoundingly' said that a judge’s spouse can’t practice in that courtroom but that colleagues of the spouse can.
'We give people, especially our sworn judges and our attorneys, the benefit that they’ll be objective and remain objective,' Weber said."
Well, here the Nebraska "counsel for discipline" stretched the truth a little bit - Matt Kuhse is not a "colleague" of attorneys who are appearing and will appear in front of Judge Marcela Keim.
Matt Kuhse is their BOSS, who has an obligation to DIRECT them, and where all prosecutions are done in his name, under his authority and with his signature.
The Nebraska disciplinary counsel and the state courts apparently "resoundingly" overlook this inconvenient detail.
As the situation stands now, we and, most importantly, defense attorneys defending cases against the City Prosecutor/husband sending attorneys he supervises to prosecute cases in front of his own wife, can be assured that, should a motion to recuse be brought in such a situation, the disciplinary committee will go after the defense attorneys and not after the prosecutor and the judge.
And, if you remember, attorney licensing and attorney discipline exists because it is declared by the government attorney licensing protects consumers of legal services.
THIS is how consumers of legal services in Nebraska are "protected".
In my view - as an expert in criminal defense - all criminal convictions already obtained under Matt Kuhse's supervision, and all criminal convictions that are going to be obtained under his supervision in his capacity as a City Prosecutor, will be void because of the relationship.
The taxpayers of the State of Nebraska, as well as criminal defendants are interested in finality and fairness of the criminal convictions in their state.
Surely there are enough attorneys in the City of Omaha, Nebraska, to fill the position of the City Prosecutor other than the husband of the Douglas County's Chief Judge.
And, it doesn't help that Judge Keim has been an Assistant City Prosecutor in the same office where her husband was now appointed, from 2004 to 2011, when she came to the bench.
Here is the husband Matt Kuhse who obviously uses his familial connection to a high-ranking judge to get a promotion and salary increase:
Not to mention that Judge Keim will FINANCIALLY BENEFIT from that particular salary increase, and is FINANCIALLY INTERESTED in her husband getting that position and keeping that position, so Judge Keim has a financial interest in drumming up convictions for her husband's office.
Judge Keim already had financial interest in the outcome of every criminal conviction prosecuted by her husband's office, from 2011, when she came to the bench, to date, for 5 years so far.
In the city where gang violence and racial tension are still very much a problem, citizens must be assured that people locked up are the criminals, and not innocents framed by a case-fixing husband-and-wife team of Matt Kuhse (in his capacity as the Douglas County assistant attorney - and now City Prosecutor) and Marcela Keim (presiding judge or Chief Judge of the entire 4th Judicial District).
I request my readers from Nebraska to watch the conviction rate in the City of Omaha and whether it is higher than in the neighboring cities and/or counties since 2011, the enthronement of the wife of a local prosecutor to the bench.
I will report how this disgusting and shameless story about misconduct of the "highly ethical people" unfolds.
Stay tuned.
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