What has drawn the Pissed Off Prosecutor out of hibernation and back to business?
Well, it has been quite a nostalgic week for me, and not in a pleasant way.
THE CARY SAYEGH DISAPPEARANCE
First, I got a call from a local reporter about what was possibly the most frustrating case of my career. A complicated matter, one which the FBI – in my view – punted on 4th and 1, causing me to transfer the case to a colleague.
The reporter who contacted me picked my brain and then, in a most unprofessional manner, blew me off. I believe that, like the FBI, she lacked the nerve to call one more play. Disappointing, but not as infuriating as the underlying case had been – a failed 1978 kidnapping investigation which we reopened, a rare federal “cold case”.
Said reporter, who had literally been writing short pieces about the weather the week before, also missed the chance to report – that’s what reporters aspire to – an aspect of the case which had never been publicly disseminated: the fact that the Bureau took a pass on the last best chance to possibly locate the remains of Cary Sayegh (the putative reason for reopening the case 20 years after the fact), and the chance to hand over a murder case against the defendant who was long ago acquitted of the kidnapping – still alive and free and living in Las Vegas – to the DA’s Office.
Where is the body of Cary Sayegh, indeed.
CESAR SAYOC’S MAIL BOMBING CAMPAIGN
Then the mail bombs made the news. And the cable news experts made fools of themselves, as usual. I’ll start with a FOX NEWS regular who opined that it was too early to discern a pattern. George Soros, CNN, the Clintons… Stop -thats not a pattern? Then there were the sentences being cited. Let’s just say they were off, and far less than “life”. Really? I prosecuted a letter bomber who in fact was sentenced to life. How is it that the basic knowledge that a life sentence is available for a serial bomber was lost on the intelligentsia? As usual, the agency heads were too busy elbowing past one another to briefly utter the mandatory “heartfelt” condolences, then move on to relentless, repetitive self-congratulations. Forget accuracy.
THE PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE MURDERS
Next we had the synagogue shootings.
I handled the detention/removal hearings of Buford Furrow, who shot up a Jewish day care center – “I killed the kids in LA… you’re looking for me” – and mercilessly executed a Phillipino-American mailman. Standing next to him in court, this was one of the most dark-hearted bastards I ran across in 30 years in Law Enforcement.
Getting back to last week’s anti-Semitic atrocities, a CNN buffoon stated that “there are no federal murder statutes.” Really? I prosecuted one.
Moreover, I heard the U.S. Attorney in the case state that “an assault weapon” was used in the attack. Wow. Unfortunately, there is no such thing under current federal law. The “Assault Weapons” ban expired in 2004.
THE TAKEAWAY
All of these crimes occurred during the Clinton Administration. Hard to blame President Trump, a theory that the media are doing their damnedest to sell. And I don’t know where cable news outlets find their experts.
Consequently, I plan to post an article on each of the above cited cases, with more detail.
