Yesterday, Judge Omar Aboulhosn issued an order requiring the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide my attorneys with a copy of the Office of Professional Responsibility’s report on the prosecutorial misconduct that occurred during my trial by August 15 or explain why they will not. The Judge’s order effectively denies my request for the OPR to produce this report within ten days. Critically, it gives the DOJ an easy out—when the deadline rolls around, they just need to say “it ain’t ready yet”.
At least four points are worthy of note:
1. The OPR investigation has been ongoing for 2.5 years. It is a fairly simple matter and one that does not take this long to investigate. There is only one question to answer. Did the DOJ prosecutors comply with the requirement that they provide me any information in their possession which has the potential to exonerate me? The clear answer is “No.”. It is obvious that the DOJ had such information and that they did not provide it. The DOJ in Washington, DC, the DOJ in Charleston, West Virginia, and the DOJ in Ohio all know it.
2. The ruling Magistrate Judge Omar Aboulhosn was once appointed to a West Virginia Judgeship by then-Governor Joe Manchin. Manchin declared me guilty three years ago on national television. Consequently, one could reasonably question whether Judge Aboulhosn has a conflict of interest. Additionally, we should also not forget that the OPR report is expected to disclose misconduct by Booth Goodwin. Booth’s dad is Judge Joseph Goodwin—a senior Judge in the same federal district as Judge Aboulhosn. Will Judge Aboulhosn be fair in this case given that Judge Goodwin would likely not be happy if his son gets in trouble as the truth is exposed?
3. The purported reason the OPR report is not being provided now is that the individuals who committed the misconduct are being allotted time to defend themselves. They are being allowed to explain why they did not comply with the rules of a proper prosecution. This is yet another example of the DOJ’s misplaced priorities and unfairness. I was not allowed any time to appeal my misdemeanor conviction before I was sent to federal prison, but these prosecutors are being allotted time to defend themselves while I remain falsely convicted. And the prosecutors will certainly not be sent to federal prison. Its likely nothing at all will be done to them, regardless of their misconduct.
4. The OPR report might get altered to cover-up the truth. This would be consistent with what the Mine Health and Safety Administration investigation team did when they altered charts and destroyed documents. MSHA investigators even said they did so in an email to themselves. Keep in mind too that the lead MSHA UBB accident investigator subsequently quit saying “they did not like what they were hearing”.
The DOJ behavior is bizarre. They make fools of themselves by writing protocol rules of conduct, then violating those rules, and then defending those violations of the rules they wrote. Their corrupt goal is to defend DOJ prosecutors at the expense of denying falsely convicted Americans their constitutional rights to a fair trial. The Federal Judges also make a joke of themselves and the American justice system by remaining involved in cases where they are clearly conflicted — even when defendants file motions asking them to recuse themselves.
It’s not a secret that our government is “as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.”