Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 30, 1993 TAG: 9310300132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The letters, filed this week in Roanoke Circuit Court, were written on behalf of associates of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche.
Anita and Paul Gallagher, Laurence Hecht and Donald Phau were convicted in 1991 of securities fraud in connection with a LaRouche fund-raising effort that bilked millions from contributors.
They have since exhausted their appeals, and are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday by Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein.
In letters to Weckstein written on official letterhead, three senators and eight delegates - none from Southwest Virginia - asked the judge to consider reducing lengthy sentences handed down by a Roanoke County jury.
The state attorney general's office, which has handled the prosecution of the LaRouche cases, questioned the propriety of lawmakers attempting to wield their influence on the courts.
"Participation in ongoing litigation by a member of the Virginia General Assembly is highly improper," senior Assistant Attorney General John Russell maintained in court papers filed this week.
Russell is asking Weckstein to exclude the letters from the record and give them no consideration at next week's hearing.
The legislators include Del. Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock, who sought his party's nomination for governor, and Sen. Joseph Benedetti, R-Richmond, the 1989 GOP nominee for attorney general.
Other letter writers were: Sen. Walter Stosch, R-Glen Allen; Del. James Dillard, R-Burke; Del. Robert Cunningham, R-Springfield; Del. Mary Christian, D-Hampton; Sen. Benjamin Lambert, D-Richmond; Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk; Del. Richard Fisher, R-Vienna; Del. Robert Harris, R-Fairfax; and Del. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach.
Some say the letters create the perception of subtle intimidation by lawmakers, who appoint judges in Virginia.
"I would say a legislator would have to be very, very leery before they started doing that," said Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County. Bell said he was asked to write a letter on behalf of the LaRouche associates, but decided against it.
"I would be very disappointed in a judge that took letters from legislators or other people who have an influence in the selection process, and used that as a reason for changing a sentence," Bell said.
Miller said it was "silly to even think" that.
"I don't think the world has come to that," he said. "No judge of any merit is going to be intimidated, threatened or coerced . . . upon hearing from members of the community."
In their letters, the legislators generally distanced themselves from LaRouche, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for fraud, while asking for leniency for his associates.
Many of the lawmakers argued that with Virginia prisons overcrowded with violent offenders, it makes little sense to incarcerate white-collar criminals for lengthy terms.
"I am well aware that the Department of Corrections is hard-pressed to do more than warehouse those charged to their care," Benedetti wrote. ". . . For those reasons, I have been vocal in support of the existing sentencing guidelines for white collar criminals and just as vocal in support of more severe penalties for repeat violent offenders."
Lawyers and prosecutors said it was highly unusual - if not unheard of - for legislators to write a judge about a pending case.
Prosecutors in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem - who have a combined 46 years of experience - said they could not recall a single case in which a lawmaker sought to influence a judge in such a way.
"With all due respect, I'd take offense to it," Salem Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King said.
John Flannery, a Leesburg defense attorney who represents the Gallaghers, maintained that the legislators did nothing wrong.
"It's amazing to me that you ask the question," he told a reporter.
"They have a First Amendment right as legislators to inform another branch of the government, just as judges have the right to inform the legislature."
If nothing else, the letters leave legislators vulnerable to future campaign attacks. Steve Musselwhite, who lost a Congressional race last year, was criticized for writing letters to a federal judge on behalf of Frank Selbe, a former Vinton town attorney convicted of tax evasion, and Elmer Craft, a public accountant convicted of fraud.
Flannery declined to say if he or his clients had solicited the letters. "I don't get into how I prepare my cases," he said.
But several letters indicated that legislators have received information about the case in the mail. Dillard said the letters were followed up by a visit from Anita Gallagher.
"It's not the kind of thing you do spontaneously," he said of the letter. After speaking to Gallagher, Dillard said, he decided that she had been treated unfairly.
After hearing 31 days of testimony in 1991, a Roanoke County jury recommended sentences of 46 years for Anita Gallagher, 41 years for Paul Gallagher, and 40 years for Hecht. The trials were moved to Roanoke County because of the extensive publicity the cases received in Loudoun County, where the LaRouche movement was based.
Weckstein later reduced some of the sentences, lowering Anita Gallagher's term to 39 years and her husband's to 34. Other LaRouche associates who pleaded guilty received lesser sentences.
The associates were charged with violating Virginia's securities law by soliciting loans without licenses, and with no intention of repaying the money.
At the time of the convictions, the attorney general's office issued a statement calling the LaRouche organizations "nothing but a scam. They were a con game that bilked more than $30 million from innocent people across the United States."
The Gallaghers, Hecht and Phau had been allowed to remain free on bond pending their appeals, which were exhausted over the summer at the Virginia Supreme Court.
Since then, the LaRouche associates apparently have been conducting an intensive letter-soliciting campaign. Bell said he received a telephone call Friday from someone asking him to write a letter.
Other letters asking for leniency include ones from the Rev. Charles Green, president of the Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Most Rev. Walter Sullivan, bishop of the Diocese of Richmond.
Dillard, one of the few letter-writing legislators who could be reached for comment Friday, dismissed suggestions that his letter was improper. As a Republican, he said, he has little impact on the judicial selection process, which is controlled by Democrats.
He decided to write a letter, he said, because "it just appeared that the sentence was totally unreasonable."
In his letter, Dillard compared Gallagher's 39-year sentence to less severe punishments for more notorious white collar criminals. Charles Keating received a 12 1/2-year term, he noted, and Michael Milken was sentenced to 22 months.
Dillard said he was not concerned that his letter might be used against him in a future campaign.
"I did what I thought was right," he said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB