DENVER, CO–(Marketwired – May 29, 2015) – Advocacy group, A Just Cause, today received additional support from Retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin as the group continues to fight for the release of the IRP6 (D. Ct. No. 1:09-CR-00266-CMA). The Honorable Judge H. Lee Sarokin released an email articulating the argument that the IRP6 were wrongly convicted.
The IRP case concerns an African-American company (IRP Solutions Corporation) in Colorado that developed the Case Investigative Life Cycle (CILC) criminal investigations software for federal, state, and local law enforcement. The “IRP6” (Kendrick Barnes, Gary L Walker, Demetrius K. Harper, Clinton A Stewart, David A Zirpolo and David A Banks) were convicted in 2011 after being accused of mail and wire fraud. (D. Ct. No. 1:09-CR-00266-CMA). The IRP6 have been incarcerated for 36 months in federal prison in Florence, Colorado while A Just Cause continues to review their case seeking grounds for exoneration.
Judge Sarokin reviewed the IRP6 case and found that in federal court in Colorado, 5 experienced, educated African-American executives (defending themselves) were ordered by a judge to testify in violation of their constitutional right against self-incrimination. Judge Sarokin, in his review wrote, “When one commenced testifying and another objected, the judge denied giving any such instruction (that one of them had to testify). The defendants demanded that the transcript of the judge’s statement be furnished. The trial continued; the defendants were convicted and sentenced to 7 to 11 years; the convictions were affirmed and review denied by the Supreme Court. To this day the transcript of that conversation has never been provided.”
According to Judge Sarokin’s assertion, “Although the primary charge was that the defendants had misrepresented their success and prospects to certain staffing companies, the case was presented to the jury on the basis that the software program developed by the defendants was a phony and a scam. The defendants had formed a software company to develop a program to aid law enforcement in sharing information. They worked for years on the project, spent their time and money, entered into a substantial lease, hired former law enforcement personnel to work on the project, engaged law firms and travelled the country demonstrating the program to potential customers such as Homeland Security, the FBI, the N.Y. Police Department, etc. As interest increased, they engaged staffing companies to provide programmers. A former assistant U.S. Attorney sent a letter to the current U.S. Attorney claiming that these individuals had committed fraud — had lied about their prospects to the staffing companies — a claim consistently denied. Whom the letter writer represented was not disclosed,” shared Sarokin.
Judge Sarokin’s assessment, and court records show, an FBI raid was conducted on the IRP business office and everything seized. “The (raid) made it impossible for them to fulfill their obligations which they assert they had always intended to honor,” writes Sarokin. “Thereafter, upon a complaint received from a staffing company, the head of the local FBI responded that it was a civil not a criminal matter and declined to investigate further. Nonetheless, the charges were later submitted to a grand jury which refused to indict. But someone (unbeknownst to the defendants) apparently persisted in having the matter submitted and another grand jury finally indicted — some years after the first letter of complaint,” adds Sarokin.
Judge Sarokin’s review of court records show that at the trial, the government conceded that the defendants made no money as a result of the alleged scam. “It is difficult to reconcile the charge with the time and money devoted to the project by the defendants and the unanswerable questions: Why would scammers pick law enforcement as their target?” ponders Sarokin. “Why would they personally guarantee the obligations to the staffing companies? How could they possibly make any money unless the program were a success and contracts obtained? Who pushed so hard for the indictments?” Sarokin wonders.
Judge Sarokin has written extensively about the IRP case in a 5-part Huffington Post series and he continues to review the question of sentencing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judge-h-lee-sarokin/the-case-of-the-missing-t_3_b_5651489.html). “Finally there is the treatment of the defendants — unusually long sentences — denied bail pending appeal as flight risks,” says Sarokin. “None (of the defendants) have any criminal records. They all belonged to the same church and lived in the same community. They and their families are replete with service in the armed forces and a long history of such service. They have families,” adds Sarokin. “(In comparison) White executives who have supervised or directed conduct that has resulted in death of consumers and employees are not even charged, and yet these 5 African-Americans (and one white colleague) are pursued relentlessly and punished harshly for basically the failure to pay corporate debts,” argues Sarokin.
“I became interested in this case as the result of a radio interview I was asked to do by A Just Cause in Colorado. I fear a grave injustice has been done, but all legal avenues have been exhausted. There is a website entitled FreetheIRP6 (www.freetheirp6.org) which contains all the details and necessary references, but obviously is not an unbiased source,” concludes Sarokin.
To read Judge Sarokin’s email/letter go to http://media.wix.com/ugd/c392f0_4e19334e663c49628bdc8fc904f8c630.pdf
Related press releases: http://www.a-justcause.com/#!2015-press-releases/cl69
A Just Cause
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