Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
The Justice Department last month concluded Lawrence Leiser, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, engaged in prosecutorial misconduct. It suspended him with pay and ordered him to vacate his office.
The investigation grew out of a widely publicized case in which a New York cult deprogrammer, Galen G. Kelly, was convicted in 1993 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria of accidentally kidnapping the roommate of a member of a religious cult.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned the conviction after defense attorneys complained that the alleged kidnapping victim was a cult member and that prosecutors did not disclose that she was under criminal investigation.
Justice officials declined to comment on the case. They said only 20 federal prosecutors have faced dismissal because of courtroom misconduct.
Leiser, 49, also did not comment. Michael Rich, a federal prosecutor who is helping Leiser prepare an administrative appeal, denied that Leiser had committed any ethical violations.
In the case, Kelly sought to win Beth Bruckert away from a religious cult known as the Circle of Friends in May 1992. When a woman resembling Bruckert left her workplace, Kelly lured her into his van. The woman turned out to be Bruckert's roommate, Debra Dobkowski.
Kelly maintained Dobkowski was a cult member seeking to set him up by entering the van voluntarily and later claiming to have been kidnapped.
The appeals court later ruled that Dobkowski's credibility was vital because she was the main prosecution witness. It also found that her testimony was ``false in numerous respects and that the government at least should have known it was false.''
by CNB