A Just Cause

Supreme Court Justice Roberts Asked to Take Action on 10th Circuit Judicial Complaint Dismissal

Judicial Complaint Dismissal Shows Judiciary Has Deep-rooted Aversion to Admitting Mistakes, Says Advocacy Group Just Cause.

 

Denver, CO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/18/2016 --In an August 15, 2015 letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, advocacy organization A Just Cause, citing bias, asks that an appeal for a 10th Circuit judicial complaint by the IRP6 defendants be transferred to another circuit (http://bit.ly/2b06RpM). A Just Cause says in the letter that 10th Circuit Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich's claims that the complaint does not provide "sufficient evidence to raise an inference that misconduct has occurred" defies reality. There is "irrefutable evidence" that the trial judge and 3-judge appellate panel appear to arbitrarily and intentionally depart from prevailing law, use prosecutorial conjecture in the place of actual facts from the printed record and were "willfully indifferent" to constitutional violations that occurred at trial. AJC further states in the letter that there is a "high probability" that 10th Circuit judges may "harbor a deep-rooted bias" against the IRP6 defendants and their organization due to harsh public criticism about the judges' handling of the case.

To view the appeal filed by the IRP6 click http://bit.ly/2ba9827

"The trial record clearly shows that the judges ignored both a federal statute and prevailing law of the 10th Circuit and Supreme Court," says Lamont Banks, Executive Director of A Just Cause. "It amazes me that some judges will allow men to wrongly sit in prison and let wives and children continue to suffer because they are unwilling to swallow their pride, admit mistakes or correct intentional wrongdoing by their colleagues," adds Banks. "Our criticism of judges in the IRP6 case is definitely appropriate," contends Banks.

Federal judge Andrew D. Hurwitz of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote an essay in the 2014 Arizona Law Review about judges owning up to their mistakes. The Wall Street Journal reported on Judge Hurwitz's remarks on June 9, 2014. "To err is human," said Hurwitz. "To make a mistake and stubbornly refuse to acknowledge it -- that's judicial," added Hurwitz. "Confession is not only good for the soul, it also buttresses respect for the law and increases the public's understanding of the human limitations of the judicial system," said Hurwitz. AJC addressed the human side of judges to Chief Justice Roberts as a reason that the judicial complaint appeal be moved to another circuit.

"Judges are human and the chief judge's complete failure to address the allegations with any seriousness or specificity raises questions about his impartiality," AJC wrote in the letter. "We suspect that many other judges in the 10th Circuit may find it too difficult and uncomfortable to judge the actions of peers in their circuit," the letter stated. A Just Cause argues to Roberts that the publicity from the complaint being published in the Denver Post online and posted on a local talk radio website as well as the case being featured in the Washington Post (http://wapo.st/29jXqSC) supports transferring the appeal to another jurisdiction.

Rule 26 of the Rules of Judicial Conduct and the Judicial Disability Act gives the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court authority to transfer a judicial complaint to another circuit where the "issues are highly-visible and local disposition may weaken public confidence in the process or where a complaint calls into question policies or governance of the home court of appeals." "We just want to ensure that the judicial complaint process is fair and impartial and don't believe that is possible in the 10th Circuit," the letter concludes.

The IRP6 case concerns six information technology executives of the IRP Solutions Corporation in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who, according to former federal appeals judge H. Lee Sarokin, were wrongly-convicted in a Denver federal court (Case no. 09-cr-00266-CMA) and imprisoned for "failing to pay corporate debts." Sarokin has petitioned President Obama for clemency on behalf of the IRP6 and was prominently featured in the Washington Post article mentioned above. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Kirsch and presided over by Judge Christine M. Arguello.