A D.C. lawyer is accused of fabricating evidence and helping a government witness leave town during a client’s trial on drug charges. Prosecutors allege that Charles F. Daum orchestrated a scheme to submit false evidence to convince jurors that drugs seized in a cocaine trafficking case belonged to someone other than his client.
Daum was indicted in federal court in Washington on charges of influencing a juror, witness tampering and other offenses. The charges stem from Daum’s alleged actions representing Delante White in a 2008 drug trafficking case.
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Also charged were two private investigators who worked on the case, Daaiyah Pasha and Iman Pasha.
D.C. police seized cocaine, cash, Gucci boots, a scale and other evidence from an apartment on the 600 block of Hamlin Street NE in February 2008.
Daum and others staged photographs that depicted someone else “cutting” cocaine and appeared to have been taken around Valentine’s Day, a few days before the seizure, according to the indictment.
In a motion filed in the White case, Daum references “the introduction of photographic evidence suggesting that Jerome White, the defendant’s brother, possessed the cocaine base approximately 48 hours prior to the search and seizure.” In another filing, Daum argues that Jerome White was the “sole possessor” of the drugs.
The scheme involved obtaining a pair of Gucci boots so Daum could argue that the seized shoes didn’t belong to his client and creating a fraudulent lease to convince jurors that Delante White lived in Hyattsville, rather than the Hamlin Street apartment, the indictment says.
The indictment also accuses Daum of having White’s grandmother, who lived at the apartment and had been served with a government subpoena, driven to an acquaintance’s home so she would miss the trial.
The trial ended with a hung jury in September 2008.
David Schertler, Daum’s attorney, said in an e-mail that Daum was “shocked by the allegations” and the charges “threaten to chill the important work done by all criminal defense attorneys in our ethical obligation to zealously defend our clients.”
In a motion earlier this month, prosecutors said they were investigating whether other cases involving Daum were compromised.
Daum was admitted to the D.C. bar in 1978 and has faced disciplinary action five times for violations that include disclosing a client’s secrets and practicing in Maryland without a license.
