Staff Blog
The drama of the Sprague continues
Looks like the new judge, Ronald Buckwalter, agreed to let federal prosecutors interview Fumo’s former attorney, Richard Sprague, without defense attorneys present. Let me break down, in simple yet dramatic terms, what’s happening here. (For more info, click here and here.)
Act 1: Sprague and Fumo are the Yoda and Luke Skywalker of Philadelphia clout.
Act 2: Fumo is indicted, in part, for obstruction of justice charges for allegedly deleting e-mails. Sprague agrees to defend him.
Act 3: Sprage and Fumo split. The Force is in disarray. Fumo says Sprague said it was a-ok to delete e-mails. Sprague says that’s not so.
Act 4: Sprague will likely be interviewed by the feds.
Act 5: Will Sprague take the stand for the feds? STAY TUNED!
The feds may want to call Sprague as a rebuttal witness if Fumo asserts an advice-of-counsel defense to obstruction charges.
The ruling came after U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter said that a government subpoena issued to the Sprague firm last month was too broad.
The subpoena was in response to a letter from defense attorneys to prosecutors that Fumo would defend himself against obstruction charges based on advice he had gotten – or understood he had gotten – from Sprague before Feb. 18, 2005, that it was permissible under federal law for Fumo to destroy documents so long as Fumo had not received a grand-jury subpoena.
The feds want to see if any Sprague records reflect that. Fumo had previously agreed to a limited waiver of the attorney/client confidentiality in the matter.
May I also point out that the new judge’s first major decision favored the feds? Just saying.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Has the Defense won any major rulings with any of these Bush appointed judges? I know that Fumo won the ruling to keep Sprague as his lawyer but by the time Yohn ruled on that, it was common knowledge that Fumo and Sprague were battling so was that really a win? I think the biggest ruling the Government won was Fumo and the Computer techs cases not being severed the Government’s case is put together like a “House of Cards” all the charges are linked together. If those two computer techs won their motion for a separate trial on the Obstruction and had they won their case which I personally think would have happened because no jury of working people is going to bang two people just doing their jobs. The conspiracy and mail fraud charges as well as 29 counts of Obstruction of Justice go out the window against Fumo.