WILKERSON ATTORNEY SEEKS CHANGE OF TRIAL VENUE, ALLEGES UNFAIR TREATMENT
By Gintautas Dumcius
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 2, 2009…..Citing "inflammatory" media coverage of her
arrest on corruption charges, "outrageous" behavior of federal prosecutors, and a potential
under-representation of minorities on a jury, the attorney for former Sen. Dianne Wilkerson
on Monday called for either a dismissal of charges or a change of venue for her impending
trial.
In a motion and 10-page accompanying memorandum filed in the U.S. District Court of
Massachusetts, Wilkerson attorney Max Stern castigated then-U.S. Attorney Michael
Sullivan's office and reporters and charged them with branding Wilkerson (D-Roxbury) as
guilty before a grand jury had indicted her Nov. 18, 2008 on bribery charges in connection
with the use of her office. Wilkerson was arrested three weeks before the indictment.
"Under these circumstances, the indictment must be dismissed," Stern wrote. "In the
alternative, because Ms. Wilkerson cannot possibly receive a fair trail in Massachusetts in
the wake of such unprecedented prejudicial pretrial publicity, a change of venue must be
granted."
Stern, an attorney with Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin LLP, also filed a separate motion
to sever Wilkerson's case from Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner's because "they are not
alleged to have participated in the same series of acts or transactions which constitute an
offense or offenses."
Both Wilkerson and Turner, who has been charged with accepting a $1,000 bribe and
making false statements to the FBI, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Turner is running
for re-election in a Tuesday general election, having receiving 52 percent of the vote in a
September preliminary.
Stern, who has won accolades for his criminal and civil trial work over a 35-year career,
could not be reached for comment Monday evening. In an email, a spokeswoman for the U.
S. Attorney's office declined to comment "as it is an ongoing investigation."
The trial is scheduled to start in early spring 2010.
In arguing for moving the trial, Stern said statistics show that African-Americans are under-
represented in jury panels in the Eastern District of Massachusetts. "Given that a black
defendant is already at a distinct disadvantage in this District when it comes to the make-up
of her jury, heaping additional prejudicial factors on her nearly guarantees that she will not
be able to get a fair trial," he wrote.
Stern also slammed the FBI affidavit that the U.S. Attorney's office immediately released
after Wilkerson's Oct. 28, 2008 "dramatic and unnecessary" arrest, which came a week
before voters in the Suffolk Second District headed to the polls for a face-off between
Wilkerson and Sonia Chang-Diaz, who won the seat.
Stern pointed to the case of former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, who was
convicted on racketeering charges. In that case, the court ruled that the release of a detailed
affidavit could risk "prejudicing the defendants' rights to a fair trail," he wrote. "That is, of
course, precisely what has already occurred here, and it has occurred because of the
outrageous, calculated, manipulative actions of the government, actions that violated Ms.
Wilkerson's due process rights. For this reason, the indictment should be dismissed."
The release of the affidavit and photographs of Wilkerson allegedly accepting the bribes
"compounded the taint created by the arrest" and "set forth in excruciating detail the
contents of the audio and videotaped meetings between Ms. Wilkerson and the government's
confidential source, providing the public with a sensational, blow-by-blow description of the
alleged crimes," he wrote.
The affidavit also unnecessarily included Wilkerson's record of campaign finance violations,
prior federal conviction for failing to file tax returns and a probation violation, he said.
Stern said Wilkerson was "intentionally made a public spectacle by the government" as she
was escorted from her home to the U.S. Courthouse in handcuffs when she was not a flight
risk. He contrasted Wilkerson's experience with that of former House Speakers Thomas
Finneran, who later pleaded guilty to federal obstruction of justice charges, and Salvatore
DiMasi, who has pleaded not guilty to federal extortion and corruption charges.
"Notably, the government has chosen not to arrest other politicians facing serious charges,
such as former Speakers Thomas Finneran and Salvatore ('Sal') DiMasi," he wrote. "In fact,
DiMasi's attorney received a courtesy call informing him that DiMasi was likely to be
criminally charged - DiMasi was then able to turn himself in and avoid a humiliating public
scene."
Stern added in a footnote: "Nor did the U.S. Attorney publicly condemn Mr. DiMasi's alleged
actions in the way Ms. Wilkerson was condemned."
Stern wrote that prosecutors also "took care to include the most potentially embarrassing
among these photographs: an image of Ms. Wilkerson allegedly hiding money in her
brassiere" and the image was then "splashed" across television, newspapers and magazines
statewide.
"In particular, the inclusion of the now infamous 'bra stuffing' image in which Ms.
Wilkerson is seen allegedly hiding money under her shirt is gratuitous at best, and the
government clearly knew its release would lead to the mocking, derisive treatment that
inevitably followed," Stern wrote before briefly listing the various ways newspaper articles
referred to the alleged act, including "stuffing wads of moola in her Wacoal," "burrowing up
[her] sweater, like a chipmunk getting ready for winter," "stuffing cash into her
unmentionables," and "lining her bra with dead presidents."
Stern also attached to his motion a 150-page collection of Boston Globe and Herald articles,
columns and editorials, and added in a footnote that a Google news search revealed that
there were nearly 100 print references, from October 2008 to now, "to Ms. Wilkerson and
her bra (not including those in which some clever euphemism was used to describe the
incident)."
Separately, in asking for the severance of Wilkerson and Turner's court cases, Stern wrote,
"The necessary relationship between defendants and counts does not exist in this case. In
the first place, Wilkerson has no connection to the Turner false statement counts. There
was no actual participation by Wilkerson. Nor were the offenses part of the alleged
conspiracy."
More articles are available at the News Service's website.
By Gintautas Dumcius
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 2, 2009…..Citing "inflammatory" media coverage of her
arrest on corruption charges, "outrageous" behavior of federal prosecutors, and a potential
under-representation of minorities on a jury, the attorney for former Sen. Dianne Wilkerson
on Monday called for either a dismissal of charges or a change of venue for her impending
trial.
In a motion and 10-page accompanying memorandum filed in the U.S. District Court of
Massachusetts, Wilkerson attorney Max Stern castigated then-U.S. Attorney Michael
Sullivan's office and reporters and charged them with branding Wilkerson (D-Roxbury) as
guilty before a grand jury had indicted her Nov. 18, 2008 on bribery charges in connection
with the use of her office. Wilkerson was arrested three weeks before the indictment.
"Under these circumstances, the indictment must be dismissed," Stern wrote. "In the
alternative, because Ms. Wilkerson cannot possibly receive a fair trail in Massachusetts in
the wake of such unprecedented prejudicial pretrial publicity, a change of venue must be
granted."
Stern, an attorney with Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin LLP, also filed a separate motion
to sever Wilkerson's case from Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner's because "they are not
alleged to have participated in the same series of acts or transactions which constitute an
offense or offenses."
Both Wilkerson and Turner, who has been charged with accepting a $1,000 bribe and
making false statements to the FBI, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Turner is running
for re-election in a Tuesday general election, having receiving 52 percent of the vote in a
September preliminary.
Stern, who has won accolades for his criminal and civil trial work over a 35-year career,
could not be reached for comment Monday evening. In an email, a spokeswoman for the U.
S. Attorney's office declined to comment "as it is an ongoing investigation."
The trial is scheduled to start in early spring 2010.
In arguing for moving the trial, Stern said statistics show that African-Americans are under-
represented in jury panels in the Eastern District of Massachusetts. "Given that a black
defendant is already at a distinct disadvantage in this District when it comes to the make-up
of her jury, heaping additional prejudicial factors on her nearly guarantees that she will not
be able to get a fair trial," he wrote.
Stern also slammed the FBI affidavit that the U.S. Attorney's office immediately released
after Wilkerson's Oct. 28, 2008 "dramatic and unnecessary" arrest, which came a week
before voters in the Suffolk Second District headed to the polls for a face-off between
Wilkerson and Sonia Chang-Diaz, who won the seat.
Stern pointed to the case of former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, who was
convicted on racketeering charges. In that case, the court ruled that the release of a detailed
affidavit could risk "prejudicing the defendants' rights to a fair trail," he wrote. "That is, of
course, precisely what has already occurred here, and it has occurred because of the
outrageous, calculated, manipulative actions of the government, actions that violated Ms.
Wilkerson's due process rights. For this reason, the indictment should be dismissed."
The release of the affidavit and photographs of Wilkerson allegedly accepting the bribes
"compounded the taint created by the arrest" and "set forth in excruciating detail the
contents of the audio and videotaped meetings between Ms. Wilkerson and the government's
confidential source, providing the public with a sensational, blow-by-blow description of the
alleged crimes," he wrote.
The affidavit also unnecessarily included Wilkerson's record of campaign finance violations,
prior federal conviction for failing to file tax returns and a probation violation, he said.
Stern said Wilkerson was "intentionally made a public spectacle by the government" as she
was escorted from her home to the U.S. Courthouse in handcuffs when she was not a flight
risk. He contrasted Wilkerson's experience with that of former House Speakers Thomas
Finneran, who later pleaded guilty to federal obstruction of justice charges, and Salvatore
DiMasi, who has pleaded not guilty to federal extortion and corruption charges.
"Notably, the government has chosen not to arrest other politicians facing serious charges,
such as former Speakers Thomas Finneran and Salvatore ('Sal') DiMasi," he wrote. "In fact,
DiMasi's attorney received a courtesy call informing him that DiMasi was likely to be
criminally charged - DiMasi was then able to turn himself in and avoid a humiliating public
scene."
Stern added in a footnote: "Nor did the U.S. Attorney publicly condemn Mr. DiMasi's alleged
actions in the way Ms. Wilkerson was condemned."
Stern wrote that prosecutors also "took care to include the most potentially embarrassing
among these photographs: an image of Ms. Wilkerson allegedly hiding money in her
brassiere" and the image was then "splashed" across television, newspapers and magazines
statewide.
"In particular, the inclusion of the now infamous 'bra stuffing' image in which Ms.
Wilkerson is seen allegedly hiding money under her shirt is gratuitous at best, and the
government clearly knew its release would lead to the mocking, derisive treatment that
inevitably followed," Stern wrote before briefly listing the various ways newspaper articles
referred to the alleged act, including "stuffing wads of moola in her Wacoal," "burrowing up
[her] sweater, like a chipmunk getting ready for winter," "stuffing cash into her
unmentionables," and "lining her bra with dead presidents."
Stern also attached to his motion a 150-page collection of Boston Globe and Herald articles,
columns and editorials, and added in a footnote that a Google news search revealed that
there were nearly 100 print references, from October 2008 to now, "to Ms. Wilkerson and
her bra (not including those in which some clever euphemism was used to describe the
incident)."
Separately, in asking for the severance of Wilkerson and Turner's court cases, Stern wrote,
"The necessary relationship between defendants and counts does not exist in this case. In
the first place, Wilkerson has no connection to the Turner false statement counts. There
was no actual participation by Wilkerson. Nor were the offenses part of the alleged
conspiracy."
More articles are available at the News Service's website.
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