From the very beginning of this case the Federal Prosecutor Marietta Parker and Terra Morehead has corruptly attempted to manipulate and control the defense attorneys in the Yellow House case. After the initial search warrant was executed in 2005, the defendants Guy and Carrie Neighbors hired a defense attorney Sarah Swain to handle the situation. There were no charges at the time.
After several complaints were filed alleging police misconduct, the Prosecutor began to threaten and intimidate defense attorney Sarah Swain that her banking records would be pulled, that her office could be charged with money laundering for accepting payment from the defendants, and that she could even be facing criminal charges or complaints of ethics violations to the Bar for defending the Neighbors.
Then the Federal Prosecutor Marietta Parker decided that Defense Attorney Sarah Swain could not represent both defendants, even though no charges or indictments had even been filed. The Neighbors then were forced to hire a second Attorney Aaron McKee to represent Carrie Neighbors seperately from Guy Neighbors. Soon after..the Prosecutor began to threaten Mr. McKee's office with the same charges that had been threatened against Ms. Swains office.
Once the Prosecutor had threatened the defense attorneys, they were no longer capable of giving the Neighbors adequate representation. Numerous things happened in violation of the Neighbors constitutional rights, that were a direct result of the defense attorneys acting out of fear, both defense attorneys were rendered incapable of giving the Federal Prosecutor any resistance to her demands.
LEGAL STATEMENT:
The Prosecutor's power comes from the tough money laundering laws passed by Congress in the mid-1980's called the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and the Money Laundering Act of 1986, which gave federal prosecutors powerful new weapons in the narcotics war. It enabled them to put anyone; including defense attorneys who took money originating from drug trafficking or other illegal activities in prison.
An amendment, passed by Congress in 1994 after heavy lobbying by criminal defense lawyers, excludes funds used "for the right to representation as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment" from consideration in money laundering cases.
It is also a violation of ethics and grounds to be disbarred for a Prosecutor to use this law as a weapon to threaten and control defense attorneys without adequate "probable cause" to back up the threats!"
There has never been any evidence presented in this case that the Neighbors have ever evaded taxes, had any illegal transactions, defrauded the banks, been involved in drug trafficking, Laundered money, or used dirty money to pay their attorney's.
PATTERN OF ABUSE:
After several incidents that involved misconduct by the two Lawrnece Kansas Police officers investigating the case Carrie and Guy Neighbors filed a formal complaint against the two officers. Carrie accused defense attorney Aaron Mckee of coercion with the prosecutor and terminated the attorney client relationship. To retaliate against the Neighbors for these actions, the prosecutor Marietta Parker told Aaron McKee that she would indict the Neighbors immediately for being "Unlawful users with firearms."
The pattern of abuse has continued even after the Neighbors could no longer afford paid attorneys, and were forced to use public defenders hired by the courts.
When the Neighbors refused to take a plea deal, and falsely admit guilt, the Prosecutor Terra Morehead dropped the charges using the threat that bigger charges would come.
Then one month later Ausa Morehead brought back the same charges but presented it to the court as a brand new case and piled on more charges absent of any new activity in the case. As a direct result the Neighbors were once again strong armed arrested in their home, and forced to start over with new court appointed attorneys.
Could it be it is easier for police and prosecutors to get convictions by piling charges on a convenient suspect until they coerce a plea than to solve a case and find the truth?
The Prosecutor has continued her abuse of her power by dumping thousands of pages of useless discovery on the defense attorneys, while withholding and removing exculpatory discovery from the files. Documents in the Neighbors discovery has also been forged and manipulated.
And in an effort to further divert the attorneys time from investigations and trial preparations she has filed numerous meritless motions. Filed superseding indictments absent of any new activity, had the defendants arrested and imprisoned on State Charges. Continued to fish for evidence after the trial dates by serving search warrants on the defendants for DNA and even getting into the defendants password protected internet accounts.
The Prosecutor has forced one Attorney off the case by revealing Secret Grand Jury testimony. And the Prosecutor has repeatedly threatened that the trial would last more than 6 weeks, causing the defense attorneys to fear for their practice and the inablitily to serve their other clients.
IN CONCLUSION:
Fortunately for the Neighbors their current defense attorneys John Duma and Cheryl Pilate have continued to fight for justice and have refused to be intimidated into abandoning their obligations to their clients. For the first time in four years, the case is moving forward, investigators have been hired to interview witnesses, view the discovery, document the evidence, and perhaps even a few motions for suppression and dismissal will be filed soon!
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