Withheld Evidence Leads to New Sentencing
by TChris
US District Judge Mark L. Wolf, like many others, is hoping he's seen the last of misconduct perpetrated by federal prosecutors. In particular, Judge Wolf is fed up after reviewing "a series of related cases that have demonstrated extraordinary misconduct by the Department of Justice in its investigation and prosecution of members of the Patriarca family of La Cosa Nostra."
Judge Wolf concluded that prosecutors withheld evidence during plea negotiations with Vincent Ferrara, who was sentenced to 22 years in 1992. Ferrara pled guilty to ordering the murder of Vincent "Jimmy" Limoli, among other charges.
Immediately after the plea, Ferrara told probation officials that he hadn't ordered Limoli's murder, but felt he was in an untenable position. If he maintained his innocence at trial and a jury convicted him anyway, Ferrara figured, he would be sent to prison for life, according to Wolf's decision.
Prosecutors were able to place Ferrara in that position by failing to disclose "that a key witness for the government had tried to recant his allegation that Ferrara ordered the slaying." The witness eventually admitted that prosecutors "coerced him into sticking to his story."
"The government's misconduct utterly undermines the court's confidence in the outcome of Ferrara's case," Wolf wrote. "Ferrara may well be innocent of the Limoli murder charges."
Ferrara will be resentenced May 3. Another victim of similar prosecutorial misconduct, Pasquale "Patsy" Barone, was released after Judge Wolf cut his life sentence to a term of ten years.
The cheating prosecutor in question, Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Auerhahn, has been reassigned from organized crime cases to the "antiterrorism squad."
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