Attorney-client communications are among the most sacred in the American system of jurisprudence, so when James O’Keefe’s lawyers noticed at least two instances of privileged communication between them and their client appearing in the media, they wrote to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann in New Orleans: “O’Keefe materials improperly provided to media.”
The information that I have confirmed was disclosed to the media appears to be intentionally calculated to foment negative public opinion against Mr. O’Keefe, presumably in an unethical effort to prejudice any criminal proceedings… a clear violation of Chapters 1-7.500 and 1-7.600 (E) of the United States Attorneys’ Manual as well as a prosecutor’s ethical obligations…
When O’Keefe and three others were arrested in January, his computer and cell phone were seized under the completely false premise that they were surveillance devices, and it appears that they are the source of the documents. If true, as O’Keefe’s lawyers note, this would constitute an outrageous violation of law-enforcement ethics as well as “severe prosecutorial misconduct.”
The letter follows:
March 4 letter to Jan Mann –