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| Lorenzo Lee Bean III |
I read these two articles and a number of others at the
http://fauquier.com and
http://fauquiernow.com about the case of Lorenzo Lee Bean, a Virginia attorney charged with embezzlement, money laundering, and related tax crimes by rabid Commonwealth Attorney James Fisher. It seemed to me that the journal reporters and editors worked overtime to mollycoddle the prosecutor's version of the story. Their news items look as though the prosecutors spoon fed them to reporters who then dutifully DESTROYED the Bean's character. They even published mug shots of him instead of a photo they had on file of Bean in a business suit.
See the two articles describing how the Commonwealth Attorney lost because of Prosecutorial Misconduct:
I decided to dig in further and write about it.
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Comment -------------
"Legal Mistake?"
“Technicality?” Prosecutorial and Investigatory Misconduct does
not equate to a mere legal mistake or technicality. It constitutes a
carefully calculated and orchestrated scheme to get a "non-guilty"
person, in this case Lorenzo Lee Bean, an attorney with a 32-year career,
indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison. In this way, the Commonwealth Attorney
attempted to destroy the innocent man’s personal and business life. But
it didn't work.
Through a fortuitous set of circumstances, the defense team
received the transcripts of Special Grand Jury testimony by Detective Bradley
Gregor and Bean’s former employee Candace Fissell. Fissell admitted that she had embezzled tens
of thousands of dollars from Bean and cooked his books to hide her crime while
she worked for Bean as his trusted office manager. The Commonwealth Attorney
probably became acutely aware of Fissell’s embezzlement and book-cooking while
investigating Bean and long before Fissell confessed to it, but gave her
immunity from prosecution anyway.
To top it
off, Commonwealth Attorney James Fisher and his minions Jamey Cook and Russell
Rabb, continued their pogrom against Bean while leaving Fissell employed in
Bean’s office for MONTHS to do whatever further damage to Bean and his clients
that she wished. The Commonwealth thereby
became a witting accomplice to whatever continued embezzlement Fissell chose to
pursue.
Then, according
to Bean’s defense team’s Motion to Dismiss for Prosecutorial and Investigative Misconduct (see link below),
agents of the Commonwealth instructed Fissell to go into Bean’s office toward
the end of her employment to gather evidence against him without a subpoena, and
to give the evidence to them in exchange for immunity from prosecution. They then used Fissell’s stolen QuickBooks
report of Bean’s trust account to justify an effort to revoke Bean’s bond. The Fauquier Times-Democrat (22 April 2015) reported
accounts of what Fissell said.
At the bond revocation
hearing, the Commonwealth offered Fissell’s testimony to support its motion to
revoke. The judge responded that he did
not need to hear from an admitted embezzler (Fissell), and denied the motion to
revoke. Anyone with common sense should
wonder why Commonwealth Attorney James Fisher and the Commonwealth would
protect as a star witness an admitted embezzler, Candace Fissell, unless of
course Fisher has a hidden motive for destroying Bean’s life.
This
skullduggery by the Commonwealth Attorney’s team has become the newest poster
child for prosecutorial misconduct. Bean
is the real victim in this mess, and the Commonwealth Attorneys campaigned to
destroy him while sending the real embezzler into Bean’s office to sabotage him
and help them build their phony case against him. These prosecutors,
every one of them, belong in prison for many years. THEY are the biggest villains in this story
because they targeted an innocent man and let the real crook go free. Common
sense says that they constitute a real and present danger to ALL of the
innocent citizens of Fauquier County because they can target any citizen at any
time for any reason and destroy that citizen’s life with utter and absolute
impunity.
The defense team received able assistance from the brilliant
founder of litigation consultancy firm Law Partner On Call (
http://lawpartneroncall.com), a renowned
expert in anulling indictments.
The
defense moved the court to dismiss the charges, thereby exposing the rotten
underbelly of Commonwealth Attorney James Fisher and particularly his assistant
prosecutor Jamey Cook. Those bad actors
apparently manipulated and suborned the Grand Jury through a variety of out and
out deceptive and misleading shenanigans. The prosecutor voluntarily
dismissed the tax crime charges and Judge Beck dismissed the indictment for the
other charges.
Prosecutorial and Investigatory misconduct (crookedness
intended to fool the grand jury into indicting and to flamboozle the defendant
into taking a plea bargain conviction without a trial) is RAMPANT across the
nation, particularly in Virginia, and MOST particularly in Fauquier
County. Read these indicting proofs:
- http://www.cbsnews.com/news/prosecutorial-misconduct-rampant/
- “The study, "Harmful Error," found 223 prosecutors around the
nation who had been cited by judges for two or more cases of unfair conduct but
only two prosecutors who had been disbarred in the past 33 years for
mishandling criminal cases. There are about 30,000 local prosecutors in 2,341
jurisdictions.”
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/07/17/judge-kozinski-on-prosecutorial-misconduct/
- “Sometimes they feed snitches non-public
information about the crime so that the statements they attribute to the
defendant will sound authentic. And, of course, prosecutors can pile on charges
so as to make it exceedingly risky for a defendant to go to trial. There are
countless ways in which prosecutors can prejudice the fact-finding process and
undermine a defendant’s right to a fair trial.”
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/07/13/the-jaw-dropping-policeprosecutor-scandal-in-orange-county-calif/
- “In March, Judge Thomas M. Goethals recused the entire
office of District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
from a murder case “because of repeated government cheating.” More rot
followed, including a gag order (issued by a different judge) preventing defense attorneys
from discussing what they were discovering (it was later lifted), and revelations that
the police and prosecutors collaborated with the Mexican mafia to target a rogue informant and with MSNBC to violate a suspect’s constitutional rights.”
- http://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/EpidemicofProsecutorMisconduct.pdf
- “Prosecutor misconduct can assume many forms,
including: Charging a suspect with more
offenses than is warranted; Withholding or delaying the
release of exculpatory evidence; Deliberately mishandling,
mistreating, or destroying evidence; Allowing witnesses they know
or should know are not truthful to testify; Pressuring defense witnesses
not to testify; Relying on fraudulent
forensic experts; During plea negotiations,
overstating the strength of the evidence; Making statements to the
media that are designed to arouse public indignation; Making improper or misleading
statements to the jury; and Failing to report prosecutor
misconduct when it is discovered.”
- http://georgetownlawjournal.org/files/2015/06/Kozinski_Preface.pdf
- 9th USCCA Judge Kozinski opens the kimono on the many ways prosecutors engage
in misconduct to get people wrongfully indicted, convicted, and imprisoned.
Get the picture? Prosecutors in the Lorenzo Bean case
have violated Bean’s due process rights in spite of knowing that their star
witness, Candace Fissell, admitted embezzling money from Lorenzo Bean’s law
firm. And they know that all others in
the firm have steadfastly maintained their innocence and denied any wrong doing. The public must not ignore this terrible
reality when it comes time to vote for its next Commonwealth Attorney.
Now let us take a look at Bean’s amended motion to dismiss
that caused Judge Beck to kick out the Lorenzo Bean indictment in order to
avoid a blight on the Virginia judiciary.
And take note as you read the motion that it became
available to reporter Michael Melkonian who fawned over the prosecutors as he
wrote the one-sided article “Legal Mistake Fouls Embezzlement Charges Against
Lawyer. He should have entitled it “Prosecutors Destroy Their Case with
Misconduct.”
SHAME on you Michael Melkonian for regurgitating into the
face of readers the disgusting excrement Commonwealth Attorney James Fisher spoon-feeds
you. And SHAME on you Editors for tolerating such biased reporting. YOU
should have published the motion and resulting order. Why did I have to do it
for you? I consider you a disgrace to honest journalism.
Get the Motion to Dismiss here:
And here I provide the text of the Court's righteous order of
dismissal:
------------- COURT RULING -----------------
VIRGINIA:
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF FAUQUIER
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
VS. CASE NO. CR14-540
through CR14-546, CR15-29 & CR15-30
LORENZO LEE BEAN, III
ORDER
This 18th day of August 2015 came Jamey E. Cook, the Deputy
Commonwealth's Attorney and Russell L. Rabb, III, the Senior Assistant
Commonwealth's Attorney, and Lorenzo Lee Bean, III, who stands indicted for
nine felonies, to-wit: six counts of Embezzlement (Section 18.2-11), Money
Laundering (Section 18.2-246.3) and two counts of False Statement on Tax
Returns (Section 58.1-348), appeared in Court in accordance with the conditions
of the recognizance and was set to bar.
And came also Thomas Plofchan and T. Daniel Griffin, counsel
for the defendant.
Counsel for the defendant having filed a Motion to Dismiss
for Prosecutorial and Investigative Misconduct, the Court proceeded to hear
evidence and argument by counsel for the defendant and the Commonwealth, and,
for the reasons stated to the record, said motion is granted, and
It is ORDERED that the indictments in case numbers CR14-540
through CR14-546 shall be and are hereby dismissed, and the Clerk of this Court
shall file theses cases among the ended criminal cases of this Court.
Exception of the Commonwealth is noted.
Counsel for the defendant moved that the motions and witness
subpoenas previously filed in this matter are hereby withdrawn, and there being
no objection by the Commonwealth and for the reasons stated to the record, it
is ORDERED that the previously filed motions and requested subpoena, set before
the Court are hereby withdrawn.
Attorneys for the Commonwealth advised the Court that it
would be the Commonwealth's desire not to prosecute further on the charges in
case numbers CR15-29 and CR15-30, objection noted by counsel for the defendant,
and for the reasons stated to the record, it is ORDERED that the said cases
stand nolle prosequi at this time and the Clerk shall file the case among the
ended criminal cases of this Court. Exception of counsel for the defendant is
noted.
And the defendant is freed from the conditions of the recognizance
and allowed to depart.
A copy of this order shall be forwarded to the Attorney for
the Commonwealth, and counsel for the defendant.
ENTER this 18th day of August 2015.
David H. Beck, Judge Designate
Dominion Reporting
