Court or Prosecutors Deleted Key O’Keefe Evidence

29May/100

Court or Prosecutors Deleted Key O’Keefe Evidence

The tapes from cell phone used inside Mary Landrieu's NOLA office were was returned to O'Keefe, but with all the video from inside the office deleted. Patterico:

I know of no law that justifies destruction of the taped footage. The federal forfeiture statute has no application. It applies only to crimes “punishable by imprisonment for more than one year” — in other words, felonies. Instead, O’Keefe pled to a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of 6 months. The forfeiture statute does not apply to such misdemeanors, and did not provide the Government with authority to retain the footage.

Surrendering the footage was not part of the plea agreement. You can read the plea agreement here [pdf at Patterico's link]. It contains no provision requiring surrender of the footage.

Finally, there is nothing in the footage that would be dangerous if leaked. O’Keefe has confirmed to me that he and his companions accessed only the public reception area of Landrieu’s office. Any member of the public could walk into the places that they walked. There are no deep dark secrets that the terrorists would learn upon viewing such footage.

In addition to the lack of justification for destroying the footage, we have a positive reason that it should have been turned over long ago: namely, this was potentially exculpatory evidence in O’Keefe’s criminal case. The Government has now admitted, in court documents signed by the Government lawyer, that the evidence shows O’Keefe’s intent was “not to actually tamper with the phone system, or to commit any other felony” but rather “to orchestrate a conversation about phone calls to the Senator’s staff and capture the conversation on video.” This means that the tape recording made by O’Keefe, when viewed in the light of O’Keefe’s history as an undercover video journalist, did not support the Government’s original charge that O’Keefe entered with the intent to commit a felony.

Read the whole thing.

I agree with Ace:

Seems to me they volunteered to make part of their official duties playing damage-control and running interference for Senator Landrieu. And the reason for this is so obvious that I can't even ask the rhetorical question about it without offending my own intelligence.

I'd emailed Pat to ask how he knew it was the Court that directed that the video be expunged. At least that question is answered in this AP whitewash that fails to mention what charges were initially brought against them, and what they pleaded to.

Conservative activist-videographer James O'Keefe said video he shot of conversations with staffers of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu was deleted when his cell phone was returned after he and three others pleaded guilty to charges in a caper he orchestrated at the Democrat's New Orleans office.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said Saturday that U.S. Magistrate Daniel Knowles III ordered the footage removed. O'Keefe made the claim Friday in a posting on his Twitter social networking site.

O'Keefe, 25, and the others pleaded guilty on Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of entering federal property under false pretenses. They were sentenced by Knowles.

They were sentenced to probation, community service and fines. O'Keefe received the heaviest sentence, three years probation, 100 hours of community service and a $1,500 fine.

The FBI has said O'Keefe used his cell phone to try to capture video of two others who posed as telephone repairmen and asked to see the phones at Landrieu's office. O'Keefe has said the group was trying to investigate complaints that constituents calling Landrieu's office couldn't get through to criticize the Democrat's support of a health care reform bill.