whisper
August 13th, 2004, 08:34 PM
MEDIA ADVISORY
Friday August 13, 2004
A coalition of civil rights groups and activists are calling for sanctions against Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon for prosecutorial misconduct.
"Our coalition is calling for Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville to recuse District attorney Sneddon. We believe sanctions should be meted out against D.A. Sneddon because of his illegal actions."
In November 2003 -- just hours before Michael Jackson was arrested, sheriff's deputies raided the Beverly Hills office of private investigator Bradley Miller. Miller was working closely with Jackson's then attorney, Mark Geragos, on the Jackson case.
Sneddon, who authorized the search warrant application, as well as the subsequent search, and reportedly conducted his own personal surveillance on Miller's office building a couple of weeks prior, knew that Miller had been hired to assist in Jackson's defense.
Sneddon completely ignored the attorney-client privilege issues.
The attorney-client privilege preserves the confidentiality of communications between an attorney and his client. Its purpose is to encourage the honest exchange of information between attorney and client during the course of legal representation.
In California, according to Evidence Code sections 950-954 Under California law, the privilege encompasses virtually any information -- oral, written, photographic, or otherwise -- conveyed by a client to his attorney during the course of their professional relationship.
In addition, Evidence Code section 954 makes clear that the privilege applies not only to lawyers, but to those third parties “who are present to further the interest of the client in the consultation, or to accomplish the purpose for which the lawyer is consulted.” These third parties are best thought of as “necessary agents,” -- the persons with whom the attorney needs to consult to do his job.
This includes include experts, paralegals, secretaries, and, as in this case, private investigators retained by a party's counsel. Thus, once it has been established that the investigator was retained by legal counsel to represent a suspect, the investigator cannot be forced to reveal the product of his investigation.
The law in this regard is quite clear. Sneddon has displayed unethical and biased behavior against Michael Jackson by authorizing an illegal warrant application relating to Bradley Miller's offices.
”District Attorney Sneddon has displayed unethical behavior from the very beginning of the Jackson case, and has turned into a Jackson stalker by continuing to press forward with criminal charges against Jackson of which several law enforcement agencies have found him innocent of any wrong doing," stated Najee Ali, Executive Director of Project Islamic HOPE.
We plan to give Judge Melville our letter of request concerning Sneddon on Monday morning.
Project Islamic Hope (323)769-5267 Attn: Najee Ali
www.projectislamichope.org (http://www.projectislamichope.org)
For further information, please visit the Project Islamic Hope website.
Source: http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/index.php?s...opic=35123&st=0 (http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35123&st=0)
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Note from MJJF: I was just sent this final copy of the press release. More groups will be joining this coalition! Stay tuned!
Friday August 13, 2004
A coalition of civil rights groups and activists are calling for sanctions against Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon for prosecutorial misconduct.
"Our coalition is calling for Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville to recuse District attorney Sneddon. We believe sanctions should be meted out against D.A. Sneddon because of his illegal actions."
In November 2003 -- just hours before Michael Jackson was arrested, sheriff's deputies raided the Beverly Hills office of private investigator Bradley Miller. Miller was working closely with Jackson's then attorney, Mark Geragos, on the Jackson case.
Sneddon, who authorized the search warrant application, as well as the subsequent search, and reportedly conducted his own personal surveillance on Miller's office building a couple of weeks prior, knew that Miller had been hired to assist in Jackson's defense.
Sneddon completely ignored the attorney-client privilege issues.
The attorney-client privilege preserves the confidentiality of communications between an attorney and his client. Its purpose is to encourage the honest exchange of information between attorney and client during the course of legal representation.
In California, according to Evidence Code sections 950-954 Under California law, the privilege encompasses virtually any information -- oral, written, photographic, or otherwise -- conveyed by a client to his attorney during the course of their professional relationship.
In addition, Evidence Code section 954 makes clear that the privilege applies not only to lawyers, but to those third parties “who are present to further the interest of the client in the consultation, or to accomplish the purpose for which the lawyer is consulted.” These third parties are best thought of as “necessary agents,” -- the persons with whom the attorney needs to consult to do his job.
This includes include experts, paralegals, secretaries, and, as in this case, private investigators retained by a party's counsel. Thus, once it has been established that the investigator was retained by legal counsel to represent a suspect, the investigator cannot be forced to reveal the product of his investigation.
The law in this regard is quite clear. Sneddon has displayed unethical and biased behavior against Michael Jackson by authorizing an illegal warrant application relating to Bradley Miller's offices.
”District Attorney Sneddon has displayed unethical behavior from the very beginning of the Jackson case, and has turned into a Jackson stalker by continuing to press forward with criminal charges against Jackson of which several law enforcement agencies have found him innocent of any wrong doing," stated Najee Ali, Executive Director of Project Islamic HOPE.
We plan to give Judge Melville our letter of request concerning Sneddon on Monday morning.
Project Islamic Hope (323)769-5267 Attn: Najee Ali
www.projectislamichope.org (http://www.projectislamichope.org)
For further information, please visit the Project Islamic Hope website.
Source: http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/index.php?s...opic=35123&st=0 (http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35123&st=0)
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Note from MJJF: I was just sent this final copy of the press release. More groups will be joining this coalition! Stay tuned!