 |
 |
 |
|
|
JW Files Criminal Complaint Against Condit While D.C. Police and Members of Congress Treat Condit with "Kid Gloves," JW Takes Action Judicial Watch has now gone where the inept Washington, DC police department and cowardly Republicans and Democrats on the Hill fear to tread. On August 27, Judicial Watch joined James Robinson, attorney for flight attendant Anne Marie Smith, in filing criminal charges against Gary Condit for allegedly trying to force Ms. Smith to lie to the police about her affair with the Congressman. No one else dares to do this. Again, Judicial Watch leads the way, with our West Coast Judicial Monitoring Project Director, Ernie Norris, who was a former Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles. "We have sufficient evidence to show that there was obstruction of justice and a conspiracy to suborn perjury on the part of Mr. Condit," said Ernie Norris. According to evidence collected by Mr. Robinson and JW, Gary Condit, and his Chief of Staff Mike Lynch and investigator Don Thornton, tried to manipulate Ms. Smith into signing a false affidavit, denying she had an affair with the Congressman. Ms. Smith refused to sign, and later wisely went public with the affair in television interviews, in part to protect herself from possible harm. Judicial Watch's complaint was filed in Stanislaus County, Mr. Condit's home district. The district attorney's office has said it will force Judicial Watch to first convince local authorities to gather evidence before it decides whether or not to press charges. Given the enormous influence Condit likely has with legal authorities in his home district, this could have the potential to stonewall JW's pursuit of justice, much as Reno's Justice Department ran interference for Clinton. However, fortunately California law does provide JW with an alternative avenue! In California, victims of alleged crimes can ask a grand jury directly for an indictment without waiting for the police or the district attorney to make their call. JW and Robinson have already filed a citizens complaint, asking the Stanislaus County grand jury to file charges on its own. "We are requesting the grand jury, or the district attorney, to conduct an investigation," said Norris. In addition to Condit's efforts to manipulate Ms. Smith, he has also withheld information from authorities, an act which has impeded the efforts to find Washington intern Chandra Levy, who has been missing since May 1. It was not until his third interview with authorities that the Congressman finally admitted to having an affair with Ms. Levy, an admission he has thus far failed to make publicly. It was after the Congressman became the focus of a media frenzy regarding Ms. Levy's disappearance that he launched the effort to keep Ms. Smith quiet about the affair, apparently in an effort to avoid being considered a suspect. Given the Congressman's illegal and bizarre behavior, Judicial Watch has also filed an official ethics complaint with the House of Representatives against Condit, and another against Washington, DC Police Chief Charles Ramsey, for botching his investigation and for showing favoritism toward a U.S. Congressman.
info@judicialwatch.org • 1-888-JW-ETHIC
Site hosting and technology by Cory Consulting, Inc. © 1997-2004, Judicial Watch, Inc., All rights reserved. |
