| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
advertisement | ||
Friday May 23, 10:09 AMAZ congressman's lawyers seek to exclude wiretapsLawyers for indicted Rep. Rick Renzi are asking a judge to seal wiretaps that government investigators obtained of conversations between the Arizona congressman and his lawyers, arguing that they are covered by attorney-client privilege. The motions filed Thursday in federal court in Tucson also seek an order for federal prosecutors not to review the recordings and to have the government return them to Renzi's lawyers and destroy any transcripts or records. Renzi's attorneys are preparing to defend him against accusations that the three-term Republican representative engineered a swap of federally owned mining land to benefit himself and a former business partner. He's also accused of stealing from clients of the insurance company his family owns to help pay for his first election campaign. Renzi, 49, has pleaded not guilty and said he would not resign because he is innocent. He is not seeking re-election. The indictment was the result of a federal investigation that put Renzi under a cloud for more than a year. In all, he is charged with 35 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and extortion. Charged as co-defendants are his former business partner, James W. Sandlin of Sherman, Texas, and his insurance firm's former president and general counsel, Andrew Beardall of Rockville, Md. They have also pleaded not guilty. Renzi's lawyers contend that the government wiretaps captured at least 50 conversations between the congressman and several of his attorneys, according to the court filing. They contend that prosecutors listened to some of the calls even though such conversations are covered by attorney-client privilege and can't be reviewed or known by prosecutors. In some of the calls, according to a synopsis his lawyers filed with the legal pleadings, Renzi and his lawyers appear to know his telephones are being wiretapped. For instance, on a Nov. 11, 2006, call between attorney Maria Baier and Renzi, Baier says "just for the record" she should remind whoever is listening that the call is privileged. "You're my counsel," Renzi said. In a call three days later, Renzi begins the call by saying, "If anybody's listening, this is privileged, by the way." The government has agreed to seal conversations between at least three other lawyers who helped Renzi on his defense team prior to his indictment in February. But the government has not agreed that Baier's conversations were privileged. According to Renzi's lawyers, Baier was hired in May 2006 after rumors began circulating of a corruption investigation focusing on Renzi. Federal prosecutors say they didn't know Baier was an attorney, in part because of a phone call on Oct. 22, 2006, to the U.S. attorney's secretary in which the lawyer said she was raising funds for Renzi, according to a Justice Department letter to Renzi's lawyers. Calls by The Associated Press to Renzi's lawyers in Phoenix were referred to attorney Reid Weingarten in Washington on Thursday. He did not immediately return a call. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix declined to comment. A House ethics committee subcommittee investigating allegations against Renzi on Thursday decided to delay its work, saying the Justice Department is concerned it could affect the criminal case. |
|||
|
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
|