What “Justice” Looks Like In The Park
By Greg L | 15 June 2007 | Rack & Roll Scandal | No Comments
It’s not only enraging that the City of Manassas Park engaged in a concerted and unlawful effort to destroy Rack n Roll Billiards and Dave Ruttenberg, but the lengths that the city has gone to to lie about and cover up their unlawful behavior are alternatively comical and stunningly brazen. In “The Raid That Wasn’t” readers learned about efforts by the police to bring drug dealers into the city in order to engage in drug buys with their undercover operatives using Ruttenberg’s girlfriend whom they were threatening with prosecution if she didn’t help further their plans. During an ABC hearing about a year later, Ruttenberg’s attorneys got a chance to question those responsible about their actions and the resulting circus is a disturbing example of how justice has been frustrated by a thoroughly corrupt government.
During the ABC hearing, Manassas Park City Attorney John Wilburn is sitting in the gallery. You’d expect that if a city attorney was present, and not counsel to any of the parties in the hearing, he would be observing the proceedings, and maybe even discussing with those arguing on behalf of the ABC during recesses how the case is going. Instead, John Wilburn is raising objections from the gallery when testimony might demonstrate that the police haven’t been acting in good faith. What is stunning is that the hearing officer not only allows this, but rules favorably on the objections from someone sitting in the gallery and not participating in the hearing as legal counsel for the plaintiff or defendant. It’s just bizarre.
So what is John Wilburn doing in this strange capacity? He’s cutting off testimony from police officers when they’re asked about the 2003 attempt to set up Dave Ruttenberg. Whenever Ruttenberg’s attorneys try to introduce evidence about the aborted raid in 2003 and the pattern of harassment it demonstrates, here’s Wilburn jumping up from the peanut gallery making objections. I’d imagine if you or I tried to do this during a hearing, on the first try we’d get shouted down by the hearing officer. A subsequent try would likely result in a contempt citation and a guest stay in a detention cell. But for some inexplicable reason, the hearing officer here not only tolerates this behavior, but actually rewards it. Wilburn raised twelve separate objections during the testimony of Detective Mario Lugo alone, and is mentioned in the transcript a total of fifteen times during this testimony.
Assistant Attorney General Dullaghan represents the government in this hearing, and there’s clearly a lot to this story that he’s not familiar with. Wilburn definitely seems to have a more comprehensive grasp of all of the activities of the police, and when Ruttenberg’s attorney ask seemingly innocuous questions about what lead up to the massive 2004 raid on Rack n Roll, it’s not Dullaghan that objects, but Wilburn. The hearing officer, who one might think would restrict participation to those who are counsel for the parties in the hearing and the witnesses on the stand, rules favorably on Wilburn’s unusual objections in every instance.
In one case the hearing officer rules that all actions by the police in the abortive 2003 raid are not relevant to the raid that was conducted in 2004. Detective Lugo takes the stand in the hearing on the first day to testify that he “found” drug dealers at Rack n Roll, but when evidence is introduced which shows that the only reason these drug dealers were present was because his operatives brought them there for the express purpose of engaging in drug sales, the hearing officer declares that evidence is “irrelevant”, following the objections of someone in the gallery who is not a party to the case. In this case, justice isn’t blind, it’s stupid.
How due process is to survive under these utterly bizarre conditions is anyone’s guess. With relevant evidence being consistently excluded, and a pretty obvious pattern of bias on the part of the hearing officer, the outcome of this hearing is clearly preordained.
But on the second day of the hearing, there’s a glimmer of hope that justice might be the actual point of this charade. Ruttenberg’s attorneys call police officer Trevor Reinhart to the stand. He’s not a member of the Joint Narcotics Task Force, and prosecutors assume he’s just a peripheral witness called for peripheral testimony. Only Ruttenberg’s attorneys know what they’re doing with this witness, and the attempt to block relevant evidence breaks down. Reinhart blows the coverup on day two.
Stay tuned…
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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