Bush will receive petition citing perjury in fraud case

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SEAGOVILLE, Texas -- President Bush soon will be asked to commute the 20-year federal prison sentence of a conservative businessman who supporters say was convicted with tainted information.

A petition destined for the White House says that the lead prosecutor in William R. Kennedy Jr.'s 1993 trial in Denver was guilty of prosecutorial misconduct and perjury. The petition is expected to be filed by Fredericksburg, Va., lawyer Craig L. Parshall in two weeks.

The prosecutor -- Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Peters -- is accused of receiving information from a law clerk at a firm representing Kennedy and using it to gain a conviction in defiance of attorney-client privilege.

"I pray the truth will eventually come out," Kennedy said last week from the federal correctional facility here, about 30 miles southeast of Dallas. "It's not very comforting to realize that hundreds of murderers have served less time than I have -- and they were guilty."

Kennedy, who was president of Western Monetary Consultants Inc., was convicted of one count of racketeering, nine counts of aiding and abetting mail fraud, and seven counts of aiding and abetting money laundering. At his indictment in 1992, the grand jury found that Kennedy was involved in a "scheme to defraud numerous precious-metals investors."

According to documents and affidavits from Keith Danley, the former law clerk who once worked for Kennedy, Mr. Peters contacted him for assistance when building his case.

"He told me I wouldn't be indicted if I helped them," said Mr. Danley in an affidavit on Feb. 2, 2001.

When some information known only to Kennedy and his attorneys emerged in the prosecution's case, Kennedy's court-appointed attorney, David A. Lane, asked Mr. Peters whether the prosecution had talked to Mr. Danley.

According to an affidavit from Mr. Lane, Mr. Peters denied having approached Mr. Danley.

"I received no information, notice or knowledge from the prosecution that the prosecution had interviewed or received documentary or other information from Mr. Danley," Mr. Lane said.