Citing “grave concerns” over prosecutors’ conduct, a federal judge in D.C. has ordered a new trial for a Kentucky business executive convicted of breaking the United States’ embargo on Iran.
Robert E. Quinn was convicted in late 2005 of selling heavy machinery to the Iranians through a third-party company in the Middle East. He was later sentenced to more than three years in prison.
But prosecutors withheld vital evidence that Quinn’s boss may have been lying to federal agents when he implicated Quinn in the scheme, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates wrote in setting aside the guilty verdict and ordering a new trial.
“This case was unfortunately plagued by a serious misstep by the government,” Bates wrote in a decision that came down late Friday. “The court has grave concerns about the fairness of the proceedings.”
Bates’ decision comes down hard on Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay I. Bratt and Laura A. Ingersoll, who Bates said should have acknowledged that they had doubts about the boss’s credibility. The boss, David Tatum, later pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents.
U.S. attorney’s spokesman Channing Phillips said his office was “reviewing” Bates’ decision but declined further comment.
Federal agents raided the Clark Material Holding Co. in Lexington, Ky., in late 2004 and began scouring the plant for evidence that the company was shipping parts to Iran through a broker in Dubai. Tatum immediately implicated Quinn and said that he warned Quinn against making the shipments. Quinn and another co-worker were charged with breaking the embargo.
Quinn claimed that he had been encouragedto make the deals by Tatum. His claim was buttressed by a Jan. 13, 2004, e-mail from Tatum to Quinn discussing revised prices with the Iranian company. Bratt and Ingersoll struck Tatum from their witness list at Quinn’s trial but didn’t tell Quinn why, Bates wrote.
Quinn’s lawyer, Aitan D. Goelman, said the embargo laws “are incredibly broad” and that companies like Clark live in the gray area.
“When the investigation happens, the company picks a couple individuals to throw under the bus,” Goelman wrote in an e-mail to The Examiner. “And the government essentially goes along with it, settling for indicting the nearest warm bodies.”
