D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles told a federal judge Wednesday that the “loss and destruction” of evidence tied to the 2002 mass arrests at Pershing Park was “inexcusable” and would result in disciplinary action in his office and possibly the police department.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Nickles to file a sworn statement explaining how documents and recordings related to the mass protester arrests went missing. In that statement, Nickles said he “takes the Court’s concerns extremely seriously” and was committed to ensuring the problems do not recur.
“The discovery lapses at issue here are inexcusable and should not have occurred,” Nickles wrote. “Even my preliminary investigation discloses that [Office of the Attorney General] personnel responsible for discovery made serious errors managing and producing documents in these cases.”
Documents found since July 29, the last hearing before Sullivan, will be handed over to class-action lawsuit plaintiffs “as promptly as possible,” Nickles said.
The attorney general placed most blame on Thomas Koger, senior assistant attorney general and lead counsel on the Pershing Park defense. The responsibility for errors “falls on him,” Nickles wrote, adding that “remedial actions will be taken.”
He also took aim at the Metropolitan Police Department’s “highly problematic failures … to maintain evidence related to these cases as well as conflicting accounts as to such missing evidence.” Again, Nickles promised disciplinary action.
Among the missing evidence is the “running resume” for Sept. 27, 2002 — a document detailing every aspect of the police response that day. Outside the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meetings, officers herded nearly 400 protesters and a handful of bystanders into Pershing Park.
But Nickles also criticized the D.C. Council for denying him the resources he needs to improve his office. It is the council, he said, that cut his budget in 2009 and 2010, and redirected money for a document management system.
It was Mayor Adrian Fenty, however, and not the council, that ordered Nickles’ 2009 budget cut by $2 million. He did so in an executive order issued June 12.
Councilman Phil Mendelson, judiciary committee chairman, was unavailable for comment.
Nickles named attorney Ellen Ofros as lead counsel in the Pershing Park matter.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney for some of those arrested, said many of Nickles’ answers in the sworn statement were evasive and that he was ignoring the need for an independent investigator into the matter.
“It’s still the same old ‘fox guarding the henhouse’ routine,” she said.
