Jan 6 Lawyer Alleges FBI Criminally Altered Evidence, Requests Special Master’s Review of Leaked Messages
Written by Gary Bai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Rogers Roots, an attorney representing Dominic Pezzola, who is charged with impeachment at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, alleged Sunday that the FBI had committed crimes by tampering with the evidence and asked the court to appoint a special master to review the evidence.
Protesters loyal to President Donald Trump gather at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Roots’ move came days after testimony by FBI Special Agent Nicole Miller, who was involved in the agency’s investigations into the defendants, on Jan. 6. When questioning Miller, Nick Smith, an attorney representing Proud Boys member Ethan Nordean (who is listed as a co-defendant in Pezzola’s case), revealed classified FBI emails that were hidden in an Excel spreadsheet tab, which included a directive to Miller to “destroy” 338 pieces of evidence and “redact” an FBI agent from a report reporting
“Destroying evidence is a federal crime. In fact, it is included as a federal crime under more than one statute. The same goes for tampering with documents, tampering with records, that’s a federal crime,” attorney John Pierce Law told The Epoch Times in an interview Sunday.
In a filing Sunday, Roots asked that Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee who is presiding over the case, either dismiss the case entirely or appoint a special master to independently review the FBI’s messages that were revealed in court.
“The unceremonious and uninhibited nature of Miller’s discussion of the commission of these serious crimes suggests a culture of corruption and lawlessness at the FBI that must be stopped immediately and fully investigated,” Roots told the presentation
“Accordingly, this case must be dismissed in its entirety and with prejudice,” Roots’ filing continues. “Even if the Court were to overlook this massive trail of FBI corruption and the trial were to proceed, the defendants have the right to cross-examine Agent Miller about all of these crimes, his missing emails, his discussions on the violation of the defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights. , their discussions of the tampering of evidence, and their discussions of the alteration of documents involving [confidential human sources] in this case.”
“All prosecutions on January 6 must be halted for hearings and evidentiary investigations by a special master and special counsel”, says the file.
Filtered messages
A key question about these leaked messages is whether they are within the scope of the evidence in the case.
Roots said in the filing that the messages show a violation of due process, and reiterated his argument in an earlier filing that the FBI’s monitoring of communications between a co-defendant, Zachary Rehl, and his attorney violated the Sixth Amendment, which prohibits the invasion of the right to a lawyer (Fusco v. Moisès case).
“Miller’s hidden messages reveal casual discussions among the FBI about pursuing strategy for the trial of defendant Rehl. Rehl’s defenses and the ‘interesting’ points, and the ways the government can get around Rehl’s defenses,” Roots said in Sunday’s presentation.
In the filing, Roots asked the court to dismiss Pezzola’s case with prejudice, appoint a special counsel, appoint a special master, schedule comprehensive evidentiary hearings and release Pezzola from custody.
The DOJ, on the other hand, said that because Rehl and his attorney were communicating through a monitored prison system, they waived the right to attorney-client privilege.
“The government has not obtained any privileged communications between defendant Rehl and Moseley,” the government wrote in response to Roots’ claims in a filing Sunday. “As the government explained in a separate filing … Rehl and Moseley made a fully informed decision to communicate with each other through a monitored prison email system. In doing so, they waived any privilege.”
Read more here…
English 
Español de Venezuela