Patriots Versus Bureaucrats

by Thomas Temple

  Jake quickly, but thoroughly, read the documents and smiled broadly. They were indictments that had been rendered by the Plymouth County grand jury. The names on the indictments were Albert Jones and William Masten. The men were charged with criminal violations of the Iowa swine law.

  “Good for you Mr. Stoddart, in the name of justice I hope you can convict them,” replied the high powered lawyer from Chicago.

  “Well, I think I can convict them, but I worry that the Feds will be so upset that they’ll bring in some big hitters to overpower my little country office. If I could only get some high octane legal talent to act as a special prosecutor it sure would level the playing field,” as Stoddart said this he looked quizzically at Jake who now realized what the meeting was all about.

  “Speaking hypothetically, Mr. Stoddart, did you have in mind a firm such as Pike and Wasserman perhaps,” queried Jake, knowing the answer to his own question.

  “Well that would be the best of all worlds, but we have a rather small budget for my office,” replied the young attorney.

  Wasserman did a quick calculation in his head and deduced that at least one million dollars of Pete Wallis’ retainer remained. He would of course call Pete for his formal approval, but he knew what the answer would be.

  “As luck would have it, I believe our firm can come up with a million dollars to support this very justifiable prosecution as well as a reasonably competent attorney to serve as a special prosecutor on a pro hac vice basis. That would be me. However, I have two conditions: One is that you call me Jake, and two is that you tell me your real motivation in this matter because I don’t believe that you are a young man just trying to make a name for himself.”

  “Jake, my name is Steve, and I grew up with Pete and William Ross. Working summer jobs on the Ross farm helped me make it through college and law school. John Ross was my little league coach.”

  Jake looked Stoddart in the eyes and was aware that the good old boy friendly green eyes that had greeted him only minutes before now had a distinctly feral look about them. The two wolves, one from a tough Bronx neighborhood and one from the rural heartland, immediately bonded.

  Waiting at the airport for his flight back to Chicago, Wasserman dialed Pete Wallis and asked his permission to use the funds remaining on the retainer. Wallis not only gave his permission but reiterated his original offer to provide more funds if needed. Jake hung up and spent the remaining time on the flight reviewing further the indictments that would result in the arrests tomorrow of the two OSHA employees and likely lead to a political firestorm. Jake couldn’t wait to get Nelson Pike’s prosecutorial advice.

  Friday, January 17, 2014

  Des Moines, Iowa

  As Albert Jones and William Masten reached the parking lot of their office building at 5:00 pm, they were arrested by officers of the Des Moines Police Department based upon warrants issued by Judge George Kimball of Plymouth County. Sheriff Johansson had faxed the warrants to his friends in the Des Moines PD and asked that the men be arrested late Friday afternoon. This assured that the two men would spend the weekend and the Federal holiday of Martin Luther King’s birthday in the Des Moines lockup and subsequently be transferred to deputies from the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, January 21st. Arraignment would be scheduled for Wednesday, January 22nd, as well as their application for bail. In the meantime Jones and Masten would be cooling their heels with some of Des Moines finest citizens. Then Mother Nature made her presence known as she often does in a typical Iowa winter. A blizzard struck on Sunday afternoon and the Hawkeye State was immobilized for the next four days. Plymouth County court activities were postponed until Monday, January 27th. Jones and Masten would not be able to upgrade their accommodations from the Des Moines city lockup to the Plymouth County jail until Friday, January 24.

  Jones and Masten were finally booked into the Plymouth County Jail at 6:30 pm. They were too late for the normal evening meal. Deputy Mingo explained this to them and asked if he could send out for some takeout for them. Both men had not had a decent meal since their arrests over a week ago and eagerly ordered up roast beef sandwiches on rye bread, fries, milkshakes, and pecan pie.

  Mingo told them not to go anywhere and that he would be back shortly. They waited, and waited, and waited some more. The deputies arriving for the day shift had quite a laugh as Jones and Masten sat down to their jailhouse breakfast at 7:00 am on Saturday.

  Monday, January 27, 2014, 10:00 am

  LeMars, Iowa

  “How do the defendants plead?” asked Judge Kimball.

  “Not guilty Your Honor,” replied the attorney for Jones and Masten. Frederick H. Krugman Esq., known locally as “Fast Freddie,” had been retained by the defendants to represent them at their arraignment and to secure bail.

  The State had asked that the defendants be remanded to custody until the trial and the defense requested that they be released on their own recognizance. Neither the State nor the defendants received what they desired and Judge Kimball set bond at ten thousand dollars each.

  Two hours later, after executing the paperwork with a local bail bondsman, Albert Jones and William Masten left custody for the first time since their arrest ten days ago in Des Moines. Their trial was scheduled to begin on March 3, 2014.

  Leaving the Plymouth County Court 10:45 am, Steve Stoddart returned to his office and placed a call to Jake Wasserman in Chicago.

  Tuesday, January 28, 2014

  10:45 am

  Washington, DC

  Jerome Foster Winthrop III left his boss’s office at the Department of Justice and went into his own office to sulk. It seems that he would have to travel to some God forsaken town in Iowa to help defend a couple of nobodies from OSHA. Winthrop thought that such an assignment was not worthy of his talents and would be a major inconvenience to his social plans. He was, after all, a rising star at Justice and should have some say on what assignments he would receive.

  The scion of a rich and influential Boston family, Jerome Foster Winthrop III, was a graduate of Harvard and received his law degree at Yale. He had clerked with a justice on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and spent eight years at the firm of Derbach, Bozeman, Stein, and Coyne, making partner after only six years. He was recommended to the Department of Justice by Allison Coyne in 2009. Such an assignment would be good for Winthrop’s career in the long term by gaining valuable contacts within the Government and he gladly accepted the position of Assistant United States Attorney.

  Winthrop reviewed the indictments against Jones and Masten and came to the conclusion that the trial was just a publicity stunt by some hick prosecutor with political ambitions. Well, he would take this hick to the woodshed and embarrass him thoroughly for wasting the time of the Department of Justice. “Actually, this might be fun and OSHA will owe me big time,” Winthrop thought to himself. Being a go to guy in the DOJ could increase his prestige and influence in a town that thrived on those commodities. Now, just where in the Hell is LeMars, Iowa?

  Wednesday, January 29, 2014

  LeMars, Iowa

  Steve Stoddart was happy to sign for the documents that had arrived at his office by 10:00 am, special delivery courtesy of Jake Wasserman. In particular he couldn’t wait to review the emails that Jake had told him about yesterday. It seems that one of the associates at Pike and Wasserman had discovered some emails that had been provided in the discovery process in the now settled civil litigation. Apparently, OSHA had attempted to hide the emails in plain sight by placing them with totally unrelated communications. But here they were, bigger than life, and all Bates stamped by the US Government. Stoddart was sure to carefully keep them in their Bates sequence as he copied all six boxes of documents that would be forwarded to Fast Freddie Krugman, Jones and Masten’s attorney of record. Knowing Krugman, Stoddart figured that the documents would only receive a cursory review at best.

  The law office of Frederick H. Krugman received six full boxes of documents at 3:30 pm on Thursda
y. Krugman sighed and called the office of the hotshot DOJ lawyer, Jerome Winthrop and asked him what to do. As usual, Winthrop was curt and instructed Krugman to just hold onto the documents and that he would personally peruse them when he arrived shortly before the trial. Krugman asked if he should take a look at them now but Winthrop dismissed the documents as being just a diversion by the prosecutor. That was just fine with Fast Freddie as he had no desire to read six boxes of Government documents.

  Tuesday, February 18, 2014

  Chicago

  Jake Wasserman arrived early at his office and began to go over the trial strategy that he and Steve Stoddart had worked out. Jake was happy for the advice that Nelson Pike had provided, especially regarding the use of the documents to their best advantage. Jake fully expected that the defendants would claim that they were only executing lawful Government policy and if any interference with the swine trade occurred it was simply the result of a civil conflict with an agency of the US Government and the State Legislature of Iowa, and therefore not a criminal offense. Jake was confident that the emails provided unwittingly by OSHA would defang the defense argument. It was planned that Jake would arrive on Saturday, March 1, prepare with Stoddart on Saturday and Sunday, and asked to be admitted as a special prosecutor on a pro hac vice motion at the opening of the trial on Monday. Pro hac vice motions were the legal profession’s method to allow attorneys to practice law in jurisdictions where they were not licensed on a case by case basis. Stoddart was very confident that Judge Kimball would approve the pro hac vice motion because of Jake Wasserman’s background and experience. Stoddart was also expecting the defendants to bring in some experienced DOJ lawyer on their own pro hac vice motion to help Krugman. Stoddart would not oppose the motion, thereby making his pro hac vice motion seem entirely reasonable.

  Jake ran all of these strategies through his mind and felt very good about the prospects of sending the OSHA bullies to jail. Then Nelson walked into his office at 9:00 am and dropped a bombshell.

  “Jake, the Furgeson Industries and HBL merger has just moved from the inquiring stage to actual negotiations and you need to take a team to New York immediately,” announced the senior partner of Pike and Wasserman.

  Jake agreed since Furgeson Industries was a major client and time was critical in these very complex negotiations. There would be virtually no chance of Jake being able to go to Iowa and assist Steven Stoddart.

  “Nelson, I’ll meet with Hal Connors right now and we’ll be on our way to New York by early this afternoon, but what about the situation out in Iowa?” responded Jake.

  Nelson Pike was ready with a reply. “Jake, I will personally select one of our best to go help young Mr. Stoddart. Fortunately you’ve done such a good preparation on this case and I’m familiar with it so bringing one of our people up to speed won’t be difficult. Don’t worry, I’ll supervise this affair myself and I’ll give Stoddart a call as soon as I cogitate on who to send out there.”

  “Thanks Nelson, and please tell Steve that I am very sorry,” replied Jake as he headed to Hal Conners’ office to assemble a team to head to New York.

  Steve Stoddart received a call late in the day from Nelson Pike. He was deflated to hear that Jake Wasserman had to attend to some urgent firm business and as a result would be unable to assist in the Jones and Masten trial. Ten minutes later he hung up the phone and could only mutter, “Jesus.”

  Thursday, February 27, 2014

  Sioux City, Iowa

  After checking into his hotel room, Jerome Winthrop began rehearsing the rendition of his professional qualifications that he would no doubt be required to produce for tomorrow’s court hearing. He was sure that the judge would grant the pro hac vice motion to allow him to practice in the Iowa court in defense of the OSHA men.

  Satisfied by his own performance he went down to the hotel’s restaurant and was dismayed that they did not have much in the way of a seafood menu and their wine selection would make a convenience store proud. Thank God that this trial should be over in a few days and he could return to civilization. No wonder he and his social set referred to this a “fly-over country.” His meeting earlier that day with Fast Freddie reinforced his impression that legal talent in this part of the country was scarce. No doubt this Stoddart guy would be cut from the same cloth as Krugman.

  Friday, February 28, 2014

  Plymouth County Courthouse

  Judge Kimball gaveled the court to order and asked for motions.

  Frederick Krugman presented Jerome Foster Winthrop III and requested that the court admit him to practice on a pro hac vice application in order to defend Jones and Masten.

  Before Judge Kimball started to ask for qualifications, the prosecutor concurred with the motion, and Winthrop was duly sworn in as an officer of the court and temporary member of the Iowa bar.

  Fast Freddie, who had opposed Stoddart on many occasions, smelled a rat.

  Winthrop was sorely disappointed in not being able to pontificate on his qualifications, but the brevity of the hearing would allow him to return to Washington for most of the weekend.

  Judge Kimball was happy to conclude the court’s business so efficiently and returned to his chambers to catch up on some paperwork.

  Stoddart returned to his office and made plans to meet with his special guest on Sunday evening.

  Monday, March 3, 2014

  Plymouth County Courthouse,

  LeMars, Iowa

  Exactly at 9:30 am, the Bailiff announced “All Rise, the 3rd State District Court of Iowa is in session, the Honorable George A. Kimball presiding.”

  “Good morning, please be seated,” instructed the jurist.

  The first order of business would be impaneling a jury to hear of the case of the State of Iowa versus Albert Thomas Jones and William James Masten. Judge Kimball issued general instructions to the jury candidates, advised them of their civic duty to serve on a jury, and thanked them for their willingness to serve. He then went into some detail on the voir dire process and emphasized the need to be totally honest in their responses.

  Steven Stoddart introduced himself and gave a brief description of the case, emphasizing that the prosecutor’s job was to see that justice was done, not merely to obtain a conviction. He also reminded the panel that everyone charged with a crime was entitled to a presumption of innocence and that the State had the higher burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

  Jerome Winthrop then addressed the panel and spent a great deal of time introducing himself along with his qualifications. Finally he was able to toot his own horn for the record. In passing he reiterated the presumption of innocence and the State’s high burden to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Then, almost as an afterthought, he remembered to introduce Frederick H. Krugman as his co-counsel.

  Judge Kimball then called a recess at 10:30 to allow the attorneys to review the jurors’ questionnaires. Winthrop and Krugman remained in the now empty courtroom to confer and Stoddart returned to his office in the building. Winthrop had viewed the gallery before the court came to order and saw nothing worthy of his attention. He paid no notice to a middle aged lady wearing jeans, a pullover sweater, and an Iowa Hawkeyes jacket. He also ignored a large bearded man wearing bib overalls and a flannel shirt. These two individuals were now in Stoddart’s office reviewing the jury questionnaires. The lady was Helen Deering and the man was Gregory Noonan. They were generally recognized as the two best jury consultants in the country. Their services were being provided courtesy of Pike and Wasserman, LLC.

  The attorneys completed their reviews of the questionnaires, made their notes for the voir dire, and notified Judge Kimball that they were ready to proceed. The Judge looked at the clock, noted it was already 11:45, and recessed the court until 1:30 pm.

  Judge Kimball entered the courtroom at 1:30 and bade everyone to be seated. He then commenced the jury selection. He called out several names of individuals who had been preemptively struck by either side and excused them with t
he thanks of the court. Starting in numerical order, jurors were questioned, rejected or approved, and either seated or excused. By 3:30 pm twelve jurors and one alternate had been seated. There were seven women and five men selected as the jury, with another man designated as the alternate. The jury comprised people from the normal walks of life found in Plymouth County. There were school teachers, retirees, truck drivers, waitresses, merchants, mechanics, and bankers now sitting in judgment.

  After Judge Kimball swore in the jurors and further instructed them on their duties he asked both the State and the defense if there were any motions.

  Winthrop replied, “No, Your Honor, the defense has no motions and we are ready for opening statements.”

  Stoddart rose to his feet and addressed the judge, “If it pleases the court Your Honor, the people offer a pro hac vice motion.”

  Judge Kimball ordered the jury to the sequester room and instructed Stoddart to proceed.

  “Thank you Judge Kimball, the people request that a special prosecutor be admitted to assist me with this case. As you know, I am an office of only one person and have other matters besides this case that require my attention. I ask the court to allow me the same consideration that was granted to the defense, and not objected to by the people, in approving the pro hac vice for Mr. Winthrop,” responded the young prosecutor.

  Winthrop was amused. Fast Freddie began to feel sweat trickle down his spine because he knew that Steve Stoddart was not the bumpkin that Winthrop took him for.

  “Mr. Stoddart, is this attorney present in the court?” was the judge’s response.