Kerik lawyer slams Justice press play

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By Ben Conery

The lawyer for indicted former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik has accused the Justice Department of using the press to poison public opinion against his client mere months before his scheduled trial for corruption and tax charges.

Defense attorney Barry Berke criticized a press release last week from Justice Department prosecutors in New York that announced Mr. Kerik had been indicted in Washington on charges of lying to White House officials during the background investigation of his aborted 2004 nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Those charges were originally part of a larger 2007 indictment in New York, but they were dismissed in March because they had not been brought in the proper jurisdiction.

Prosecutors refiled charges last week Washington, which is the proper jurisdiction because it is where the supposed crimes took place.

"It is hard to fathom what legitimate law enforcement purpose could have been served by the government issuing a press release about 1 1/2-year-old charges," Mr. Berke told The Washington Times. "There can be no question that the prosecutors' actions has the obvious effect of generating news reports that wrongly suggested Mr. Kerik had been charged with additional wrongdoing, which clearly had and will continue to have an impact on the public's perception of Mr. Kerik."

Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin, whose office is prosecuting Mr. Kerik, declined to comment on Mr. Berke's statements.

The press release issued about the new indictment did note that the new charges were similar to those brought in the New York indictment.

"Charges similar to those in todays indictment were initially brought as part of an indictment returned in the Southern District of New York in November 2007 but were dismissed from that indictment because the crimes are alleged to have occurred in the District of Columbia and not in the Southern District of New York," it reads.

According to the indictment, Mr. Kerik lied to White House officials about receiving gifts from a contractor seeking public contracts from New York City. Mr. Kerik's nomination for homeland security secretary ultimately unraveled when he acknowledged hiring an illegal immigrant to work as a nanny.

"The charges recently filed in D.C. are identical to the charges originally filed by New York prosecutors in December 2007 that the court dismissed for lack of venue," Mr. Berke said. "The government nevertheless issued a press release that had the effect of suggesting that these old charges were new, significant and expanded the allegations against Mr. Kerik."