PLAXICO BURRESS TO TESTIFY BEFORE GRAND JURY TODAY IN HIS OWN CASE

Plaxico Burress (AP)

Plaxico's attorney says the decision for Plaxico to tesitfy before the Grand Jury is a result of the prosecutor speaking to the press about the case.

This is silliness. What a prosecutor says to the press cannot be used against Plaxico in a court of law. Statements could be used to argue "change of venue" if Plaxico seeks a jury trial but otherwise, KEEP YOUR CLIENT OUT OF THE GRAND JURY.

Everything Plaxico says today will be on the record, may be incriminating and may be used against him at trial. We know Plaxico possessed a gun and shot himself in the leg. There is no reason Plaxico should testify at this initial stage of the criminal process!

The grand jury is NOT the proper place to tell your side of the story, if you are the person being charged. I strongly disagree with Plaxico's lawyer's decision to put him on the stand. NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM HIS TESTIMONY! It's the prosecutor's burden to put forward enough evidence for an true bill of indictment from the grand jury.

Plaxico needs to keep his mouth shut!

Here are my other blogs on Plaxico:

The Gun-Toting Plaxico Burress: Professional Athletes Continue to "Shoot Themselves in theFoot"

UPDATE: "STATUS" DATE FOR NFL PLAYER PLAXICO BURRESS ON GUNCHARGE

www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com

Tamara on Fox Chicago Discussing Ex-Governor Blagojevich's Arraignment

Today, ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich was arraigned on the 16-count indictment. He pleaded not guilty.  I'll be on Fox Chicago tonight at 9 pm discussing the case.

www.tamaraholder.com and www.xpunged.com

Prosecutorial Misconduct Once Again - Senator Ted Stevens The Latest Victim

 Another American injustice - this time the victim was one of our very own American leaders: Senator Ted Stevens. Fortunately, in the end, justice prevailed - Sen. Stevens' conviction was set aside due to obvious prosecutorial misconduct. AG Holder has stated he will dismiss the indictment and is not seeking a new trial.  Article here. In October, Stevens was found guilty of seven counts of lying on Senate ethics forms. Senator Ted Stevens

THE MISCONDUCT

In a nutshell, the government's key witness was Bill Allen, an oil industry exec., who testified that Sen. Stevens failed to disclose over $250,000 in gifts from him on his Senate forms. (Mr. Allen is no angel himself - he pleaded guilty to charges of bribing Alaskan lawmakers, including Ben Stevens, Senator Stevens’s son.)

It wasn't until trial that prosecutors gave Stevens' defense team FBI notes that were not previously disclosed, a clear Brady violation. These notes were handwritten by an agent, Chad Joy, during an interview with Mr. Allen. Mr. Allen told the agent he believed Sen. Stevens would have paid any bills but that the bills were never sent! Article here. Obviously, this information could have helped with Sen. Stevens' defense!

 FBI Agent Mary Beth Kepner - allegedly involved with prosecution's key witness Bill Allen The juiciest part is that another FBI Agent, Mary Beth Kepner, (see picture) was allegedly involved in an "inappropriate relationship" with Mr. Allen.  In fact, she apparently wore a skirt to Stevens' trial the day Mr. Allen testified.  I hope she has nice legs because she surely doesn't look like one of Hef's girls! 

PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT A DISGRACE TO AMERICAN JUSTICE

Lucky for Sen. Stevens, he had a highly paid defense team.  Lucky for the Duke lacrosse players, they had a highly paid defense team.  (Remember their case was dismissed after the prosecutor Mike Nifong withheld key DNA evidence. The ability to pay for a lawyer gives one the ability to fight a case.  But what about the thousands of indigent men and woman (predominantly African American) who cannot afford to fight their case and who are forced to plead guilty?  In Illinois, Governor Ryan pardoned 4 death row inmates stemming from torture allegations by the Chicago Police and prosecutorial misconduct in the criminal cases.  In fact, Gov. Ryan thereafter instituted a moratorium on the death penalty.

Or how about the recent case in Orleans Parish, LA?  The city may have to file for bankruptcy after it lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit against its prosecutors for engaging in misconduct on a death penalty case.

If you turned Sen. Stevens into a poor black man, turned the charges into a murder and turned a private defense team into one public defender, Sen. Stevens would have been forced to plead guilty as charged. I am not trying to be a bleeding heart - the statistics speak for themselves.

It is fundamentally unfair for prosecutors to hold all the cards, cheat and then not be held accountable for their actions.  More judges must hold prosecutors accountable for their actions and prosecutors' offices across the county cannot be afraid to charge their own for engaging in misconduct and withholding evidence. 

www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com

EX-ILLINOIS GOVERNOR BLAGOJEVICH INDICTMENT TODAY?

Ex-Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich could be indicted as early as today. The EXTENDED deadline given to prosecutors is April 7th, next Tuesday, but the grand jury only meets on Thursdays; thus, today is the final day of Grand Jury proceedings.

Don't worry, friends.  Blagojevich is at Disney with the family.  Maybe he thinks he is still in fairy tale land?  Fact of the matter is this: Blagojevich will be indicted.  Disney - Blagojevich's vacation spot as he awaits indictment

As you know, I think whatever charges hand-up will be trumped-up. His arrest for attempting to sell then-Senator Obama's Senate seat was a preemptive move; as a consequence, he did not commit any illegal act (as far as the Senate seat goes) because he only discussed a desire to sell the seat.  Ok, so maybe they'll charge him with a conspiracy...but who are the other conspiring parties? I do not think there are any.  

This case excites me. Let's see what the U.S. Attorney can come up with since they arrested him before having anything substantial on Blagojevich.

I've followed this case with great complexity.  Here's the link to all the blogs I posted since Blagojevich's arrest: Blagojevich blogs. 

www.tamaraholder.com and www.xpunged.com

DREW PETERSON'S STEP-BROTHER TALKS, DREW CONFIRMS DETAILS

Drew Peterson's step-brother, Thomas Morphey (Sun Times)

This morning, Drew Peterson's step-brother, Tom Morphey, spoke to Good Morning America about the days before Stacy Peterson went missing. Video here. As we all know, a response from Drew was expected.  In fact, he had an interview arranged with the local radio station to discuss Morphey's interview immediately after it aired.

 DREW CONFIRMS MORPHEY IS CREDIBLE

Joel Brodsky, Drew's attorney, has made numerous statements about Tom Morphey, all of them dismissing his credibility because Morphey has had substance abuse issues in the past.  Regardless of what Brodsky says, today Drew confirmed Morphey's credibility. 

In the ABC interview, Morphey explained that Drew offered him $2000 to rent a storage locker to store a sealed container inside. Drew confirmed this account today! He told the radio that he did ask Morphey to visit a storage locker with him "to store extra tires."  Article here.   Drew dug his own hole by confirming Morphey's account of Drew's request to visit the storage locker.  Drew also confimed the location of the storage locker - that it was along the highway 53 - the highway that has long been suspected as the route Drew took to dispose of Stacy's body.  Drew is now putting together the timeline and the circumstantial evidence against him in his own case.  

WHY WASN'T TOM MORPHEY PREVIOUSLY CALLED BEFORE THE GRAND JURY?

Clearly, prosecutors knew of Morphey and the information he had to offer because he was offered immunity immediately after Stacy disappeared. In fact, Morphey was also placed into protective custody for a few months.  So why hasn't he been called before the grand jury?

I do not think prosecutors forgot about Morphey.  Prosecutors are building a timeline and a theory of the case.  Maybe they do not want to get locked into Morphey's story if other witnesses have a different account of what happened.  Or, since prosecutors may fear Morphey's credibility is an issue, maybe they are seeking other corroborating evidence of Morphey's account (the cell phone pings, video of Drew at certain locations) before bringing Morphey before the grand jury.

Regardless, prosecutors must be jumping out of their skin at the fact that Morphey spoke publicly.  They should have secured the confidentiality of his testimony by calling him before the grand jury.  Now, this interview can be used to impeach anything else he says that may be remotely contradictory. 

There is, however, a silver lining in every cloud.  So while prosecutors may have been fuming at Morphey's interview, they now have Peterson corroborating the request for the storage locker along the Highway, just days before Stacy's death.  This is huge.

WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG FOR DREW TO BE CHARGED?

It seems like every day someone is asking me, "Why hasn't Drew been charged yet?"  The reason is simple: murder does not have a statute of limitations.  There is no rush for the State's Attorney to charge him.  In fact, once they do, Drew will be taken into custody and will most likely demand trial.  That means the state will only have 120 days to try the case.  If, however, prosecutors prolong the grand jury proceedings, they can interview each witness, and build their case slowly.  The goal is to be 100% prepared so that when he is charged, they are essentially ready to go to trial and in 120 days they will just be tying up loose ends while Brodsky is up to his eyeballs in evidence. There is no rush!

As I shared with you in the Casey Anthony case, it is difficult to charge a murder without the body.  Many people thought I was defending Casey; however, that's not the case.  A dead body proves the person is, in fact, dead.  Like it or not, there may be a juror that could have thought Caylee was really kidnapped (this was before her body was found) or that Stacy Peterson did run off with another man. 

As for the alleged murder of Katheen Savio (Drew's 3rd wife), the problem with that case is that the IL State Police botched the investigation from the very beginning.  It took an independent exhumation of the body several years later to determine that her death was not accidental but a homicide.  My suspicion is that the murder of Kathleen Savio may never get charged because of their initial failure to properly investigate the case. 

Prosecutors are investigating two murders - one of a woman whose investigation was destroyed in the very beginning (Kathleen Savio) and the other of a woman who is still missing.  Prosecutors have not had it easy in either case but Drew's loose lips are a blessing in disguise.

www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com

ANNA NICOLE VIDEOS & FINANCIAL RECORDS WILL BE KEY EVIDENCE AGAINST HOWARD K. STERN

THE VIDEOS

Today, I stumbled upon this piece by Geraldo Rivera. Howard K. Stern's behavior is disgusting, appauling and will most definitely be used against him in his criminal case. Howard K. Stern is a dispicable person if what is alleged is actually true: he fed Anna Nicole thousands of prescription pills that ultimately caused her untimely death. Over 11 different medications were found in her system at the time of Anna Nicole's death. Who was with her at this time? None other than Howard K. Stern. The cumulative effect that these medications had on Anna Nicole certainly contributed to her death; it was not like she died from an overdose of one type of medication taken hours before.  Howard K. Stern never sought medical attention for Anna Nicole.  In fact, certain pharmacists refused to fill scripts and advised Mr. Stern to get help for Anna Nicole.  The advice was ignored.

To me, this video shows malicious intent on the part of Anna Nicole.  Listen to the part where he tells Anna Nicole that the video is going to be worth a lot of money, or the part where a minor child begins to get scared because Anna Nicole is treating a doll like it's a real baby.  (Keep in mind, Anna Nicole is pregnant at the time of this video.)

Here is the transcript from a Greta Van Sustern inteview with Howard K. Stern

 THE FINANCIAL RECORDS

Anna Nicole's financial records will be most interesting. Who was paying for the meds? Who had access to her account? How much was being paid? Was Howard K. Stern a co-signor? Was he receiving any kind of attorney's fees as well?  How much was being paid to the doctors and by whom? Financial records may be important to prove motive: was Howard K. Stern's motivated by Anna Nicole's money and did he receive a direct monetary benefit by being her "friend?"

ANNA NICOLE AT AN AWARDS SHOW - CLEARLY UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Read the complaint in its entirety here.

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Drew Peterson's Girlfriend Moves Back In - His Mind-Games Prevail

Drew Peterson's fiancée or girlfriend or housemate or whatever you want to call her, Christina Raines, apparently moved back in with Drew earlier this week. Article here. She had moved out of his house a few weeks ago after her father, Ernie Raines, and the father of her children, Mike, "saved her" from Drew. Christina Raines - Interviewed by the Today Show

My Conversation with Christina
As you know, I spoke to Christina in-depth the day she moved out of the house (she was already back at work.) Her stories of Drew depicted a man who is controlling and flat-out creepy. (I previously shared some of my conversation with Prime News here.)  Some of the things she said are so creepy that, out of courtesy, I do not want to share them with you. One thing she did say that has really stuck with me (that I do not mind sharing) is that she felt, after spending many hours alone in the house, there was no way Stacy could have just up-and-left her kids. The way the kids' rooms were decorated and other parts of the house...she believed it was the home of loving mother who would not willingly abandon her little children. She also stated Stacy's clothes remained in the closet. How weird! I mean, is she now supposed to "share" closet space with Stacy? The idea is bizarre but not a far stretch of the imagination.

Best Interests of Children Now Even A Bigger Issue
On January 13, 2009, Christina moved into Drew's home for the first time. She also moved in with her children. On this day, I wrote a blog discussing the best interests of the children. Blog here. I said: Should DCFS get involved in the case and should the father attempt to have the children removed from the home? Well, cases like this do not require the same burden as in a criminal case: beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, DCFS will look at “the best interests of the children” and determine if that allows them to remain in the Peterson home.

The "best interests of the children" issue is now of even greater importance, not because of Drew and his alleged violent, criminal behavior but because of Christina.  She is clearly unstable.  In less than one month, she has moved into the Peterson home, moved out and moved back in.  Granted, many parents act in this manner during contentious separations but this situation is terrible for Christina and Mike's minor children. 

DCFS now must get involved.  We have two kids moving in-and-out of a suspected murderer's home at the whim of their unstable mother.  Like I said before, if a woman wants to date Drew, fine.  But children should not become the victims of Drew's mind games played on their mother. 

Will County State's Attorney Must Hurry Up and Indict Drew
Last week, Christina Raines apparently testified before the Grand Jury.  Article here.  Smart move on the part of the Will County State's Attorney's office.  They probably figured it was only a matter of time before Drew won Christina over and so they needed to hurry and get her testimony on the record.  But now that she's back together with Drew, I think they need to move more quickly to indict him.  Here's why: a) we don't want Christina to end up missing or dead, b) we don't want the children to potentially be injured or killed, and c) we don't want her to recant her previous testimony to the Grand Jury at Drew's trial because Drew had this opportunity to brainwash her into doing so.

Caution!
Many bloggers and those with an opinion (all of us!) have stated that Christina is "stupid."  I would ask you to not call her such a derogatory name.  Maybe she's making a stupid decision but she's not stupid.  I spoke to her at length.  She is soft-spoken and kind.  I really feel this young woman is the victim of an old pro's mind games.  And while many of you may think, "I would never date Drew Peterson", you probably weren't raised by very controlling father -- as she clearly was (Ernie is obviously a control freak - didn't you see his behavior in front of the cameras?), and you probably don't have self-esteem and confidence issues.  So instead of calling her "stupid" you should probably try to understand the reasons for her decision to date him in the first place.

www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com