In The Footsteps of Elvis And Dan Ackroyd
A very interesting response to an Illinois Administrator complaint has been filed pro se by an attorney convicted of a federal bribery offense relating to his obtaining a Virginia auxiliary deputy sheriff badge in exchange for a $20,000 payment
The Respondent acknowledges the seriousness of any criminal conviction, including felony convictions, as they pertain to the duties and responsibilities of a member of the legal profession. However, in this particular matter, the Respondent’s actions were not undertaken with any criminal intent, nor did the Respondent have knowledge that his actions were unlawful or constituted misconduct (see above). At all times, the Respondent acted upon the information available to him, representations of governmental authorities or agents of governmental authorities and in accordance with his understanding or lack of understanding of the law. He acted impulsively, naively and even stupidly and irresponsibly, but not with any wrongful knowledge or intent. Furthermore, Respondent requests that the Board considers the other materials and information previously provided to the Illinois ARDC with respect to this matter and incorporates such by reference.
In particular
Respondent knew that public officials lawfully mete out honorary appointments, ranging from ambassadorships to reserve deputizations, to campaign donors. For example, “[s]ince the 1950s, presidents have handed out roughly 30 percent of ambassadorships to political appointees, the bulk of which tended to be donors.” President Trump “pushed that number north of 40 percent in his first two years” in office. Michelle Cottle, Stop Letting Rich People Buy Ambassadorships, THE N.Y. TIMES (Mar. 18, 2021).1 Likewise, local police and sheriff’s offices often hand out reserve deputy status to celebrities — such as Shaquille O’Neal, Elvis Presley, Lou Ferrigno, Hershel Walker, and Dan Akroyd — who back the blue in both monetary and nonmonetary ways. Based on this information, in addition to personal knowledge of businessmen who had been deputized in Virginia after campaign donations, Respondent reasonably believed that it was common and lawful to donate to sheriff election funds with a hope or expectation of future honorary deputization. Respondent never viewed his payment as “corrupting” the Sheriff. Rather, he viewed it as a predicate for enhancing Rahim’s stature with the Sheriff and hopefully catching the Sheriff’s eye, in the same way wannabe ambassadors dump millions into PACs to catch the presidential eye.
Who ya gonna cite?
Dan Akroyd is particularly notable. He was deputized in Hinds County, Mississippi in January 2014. During
his swearing-in, he remarked that he had “programs and fundraisers in mind to help the sheriff’s department.”
Knowledge
When the United States was first formed it has been stated that there were only three Federal felonies and with the adoption of the Crimes Act of 1790, there were 23 federal offenses. Currently, no one knows for sure how many Federal crimes there are, but estimates range from around 4,500 to nearly 6,000 in the United States Code, with potentially hundreds of thousands more dispersed throughout federal regulations. It is challenging to count them all because new ones are constantly created, repealed, or amended. Query if any lawyer is aware of all 4,500 to 104,500 or more, let alone an attorney who does not practice in such area of expertise. Respondent clearly was not aware of 18 USC 666.
Respondent notes that the recipient got a pardon.
The main target of the prosecution, Sheriff Scott Jenkins has received a full and unconditional pardon. Query is it fair that Respondent has suffered much greater consequences and collateral consequences and continues to suffer such extreme consequences than the main perpetrator?
(Mike Frisch)