Avi Moskowitz was on Zev Brenner's Talkline show tonight.
Moskowitz based his remarks on the presumption that Judge Linda Reade did not disclose her involvement in planning the aftermath of the May 12, 2008 immigration raid on Agriprocessors. But I believe this presumption – circulated by Nathan Lewin – is misleading.
Rubashkin's lawyers began to move for Judge Reade's recusal long before Rubashkin's trial, but stopped when Judge Reade said her involvement in the raid's planning was limited to logistical issues. Nathan Lewin admitted this in a recent interview and I recall reading about Rubashkin's move to get Judge Reade recused long before the trial in one of the newspaper reports on the case.
it would seem to me the only real issue is whether or not Judge Reade's involvement was limited to those logistical issues.
Nothing I can see in the 170 pages of documents Lewin released shows Judge Reade did anything other than deal with logistical issues, and Nathan Lewin has not cited anything in those documents that proves otherwise.
It seems to me what Lewin is trying to do is fabricate the appearance of impropriety where none exists, and then use that 'impropriety' to get his client a lighter sentence.
When you combine that with Lewin equating Judge Reade with Haman HaRasha, the paradigm for all enemies of the Jewish people, and other similar behaviors, you can see why those of us who are not vested Rubashkin supporters find Lewin's behavior revolting.
I also think Lewin's behavior is bad for the Jewish community as a whole.
Moskowitz said he found the Lewin FOIA documents "very distressing," largely, it seems, based on the number of meetings, not on anything actually found in the documents.
Moskowitz also pointed out Lewin's misrepresentation of a section of the documents, noting that the quote in Lewin's press release is not a quote from the judge (even though it is presented as such) – it is quote from an ICE agent summarizing a meeting. He also notes that Lewin's press release only quotes the first half of that sentence, and points out that the entire sentence is talking about logistics, and that the meaning of the sentence is substantially changed by the way Lewin's press release quotes it.
You'll recognize this because I was the first to point this out. I did this on Thursday and again on Friday, and said that this type of reprehensible behavior is indicative of Lewin's tactics. And so it is.
Moskowitz also said that a judge's involvement in logistical planning – arranging translators, computers, IT staff, defense attorneys, room for them all to work, courtroom space, bailiffs, etc. – is proper and is not a problem, something I also noted last week.
He spoke about the logistical difficulty in arresting and processing hundreds of defendants at one time, and did not think six months of planning was excessive.
He also noted that the government always uses massive force in situations like this, and that it does so to prevent violence – something else I've pointed out several times in the past.
Therefore, the money spent of the raid – $5 million – is not excessive or unusual, especially when the scope of the raid and the number of arrests is taken into account – something else I've pointed out previously.
The bottom line is that based on the documents Lewin released, Moskowitz thinks that there is a possibility Rubashkin's sentence will be sent to another judge for resentencing, but he thinks the possibility of a new trial is remote.
Listening to Moskowitz one can understand how a good attorney could make the case that Judge Reade should have disclosed more information on her involvement in planning the raid's aftermath, and how that attorney might argue for a new trial or resentencing, without resorting to misquotes, misrepresentations, and unsupported claims of antisemitism.
Unfortunately, Moskowitz is not Rubashkin's counsel.
Please click on the gray bars to listen or right click on them to download:
As always, I urge you to read the original documents and make up your own mind.
[Hat Tip: Burich.]