AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM INC: Rogue Prosecutions in an Era of Mass Incarceration

By Fred Eghobor

The United States is only about 5 percent of the world’s population, but home to 25 per cent of global prisoners. The American criminal justice system presently is broken, and an example of justice run amok. The system has deteriorated to a point whereby innocent people are being imprisoned even with the lack of sufficient evidence. For th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eghobor Publishing
• Release date: May 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9780995964815

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AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM INC

Rogue Prosecutions in an Era of Mass Incarceration

FRED EGHOBOR

Copyright © 2017 Fred Eghobor

ISBN: 978-0-9959648-1-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

 Eghobor, Fred, author

         American Criminal Justice System Inc: rogue prosecutions in

an era of mass incarceration / Fred Eghobor.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-9959648-0-8 (softcover). --ISBN 978-0-9959648-1-5 (EPUB)           

         1. Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.  I. Title.

HV9950.E45 2017                  364.973                  C2017-902634-8

DISCLAIMER

This work reflects my recollection of events, and I have related them to the best of my knowledge, but do recognize that other people’s memories of the events described in this book may be different than my own. Some names and identifying details have been concealed and, in certain situations, only the first name or first letter of the last name is used to protect the privacy of the people involved. But I have done my best to tell my story truthfully.

First Edition

IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My everlasting gratitude and love to my wife and children who have lived with my frequent and, sometimes, long absences. Bridget has indeed given so much and made so much sacrifice for me. I could soldier on each day knowing that I have a woman who loves me and always will. I am more in love with her now than ever before. My children – Justin, Jason, and Britney – were no less remarkable. They continually showed affection and love through their encouragement, prayers, and support during the period of my incarceration. Many times, they’d pull together their little savings (mostly from gifts received) to make sure I had money in my commissary account while in prison. Despite being away from them for a long time, my family tolerated my countless hours away in the library trying to get this work done. In writing this book, Justin painstakingly went through many chapters and gave me insights I had not thought of.

My deep and abiding gratitude to my friends, simply too numerous to mention, for their constant stream of support and love during the period of my imprisonment. My special thanks to Kingsley Ighobor for his valued correction of the manuscript from start to finish and for answering my many questions. I also thank Terry Poulton, editor, for her thoughtful comments and suggestions. To my brother, Daniel Eghobor, I owe my appreciation for his support and encouragement to tell my story and for making my transition from prison to freedom less painful.

I am deeply indebted to my parents for making me who I am, especially, to my dad for believing in me and helping to shape my future. The dedication of this book speaks volume of his contribution to my life. He gave it all, including his life. May his gentle soul rest in peace!

Finally, my gratitude to the inmates at Mansfield, Seagoville, and Dalby, who made my prison experience tolerable through shared suffering, shared hopes and a mutual sense of encouragement.

My heart goes out to victims of injustice everywhere and, particularly, those in captivity. Know that you are always in my thoughts and prayers. 

Table of Contents

preface

Chapter 1: introduction

chapter 2: the crisis facing the u.s. criminal justice system

chapter 3: america: both sides of a coin

chapter 4: how it all began

chapter 5: indictment and detention

chapter 6: my trial

chapter 7: post-trial

chapter 8: why i fought

chapter 9: how and why they win

chapter 10: prosecutorial abuse of power and discretion

chapter 11: crime and punishment in america

chapter 12: the conSpiracy law: a frankenstein monster

chapter 13: prison life

chapter 14: lessons learned

chapter 15: finding meaning in troubled times

chapter 16: conclusion

PREFACE

Incarceration rates of the United States of America are, by far, the highest in the world. With only about 5 percent of the global population, the U.S. houses 25% of the total number of prisoners.

Rather than being an instrument of public order and public safety, the country’s criminal justice system has become a vehicle for ridicule, debasement and money making. Due to an unprecedented increase in incarceration rates over the years, many relationships have been destroyed, and marriage disintegration is rife under the strain of imprisonment. Many children in America today are growing up without their mom or dad or both. The criminal justice system not only severely punishes offenders, but it also devastates innocent lives due to unfair prosecutions and reckless incarcerations.

A 1983 study by the Office of Legal Policy of the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that there are approximately 3,000 federal crimes,¹ in the statute books. As if these are not enough, at present, Congress creates, on average, more than 50 new criminal laws each year. Over time, this has translated into more than 4,500 federal criminal laws spread across 27,000 pages of the United States federal code.²

This trend is continuing unabated, and hundreds of thousands of regulations are being replicated from existing statutes to entrap the unsuspecting average person living in America. The criminal justice system punishes honest mistakes, and because of the plethora of numerous and complex laws and regulations, one can break the law without knowing it. In many situations, accused persons are prosecuted, based not on what happened, but on what might have happened. Unwarranted arrests, police brutality and senseless prosecutions are a commonplace to the extent that the country’s legal system is teetering dangerously towards a precipice.

Being careful in one’s personal or public life does not insulate anyone from being caught in the cobweb of the numerous laws and regulations. You can only hope that you are not in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that an out-of-control government agent has not targeted you. Thus, in present-day America, everyone is a potential criminal.

In some cases, those accused of crimes are convicted not on the letter of the law, but on prosecutors’ predetermined interpretation of an act, which then becomes a legal precedent for future cases. Many Americans are unable to understand the laws in the statute books, let alone the numerous regulations, and they become victims before they have any idea that they’ve done something wrong.

Overcriminalization in America is a political and career-driven enterprise. Although lawmakers can do more to remedy the situation, but because of political expediency, the legislative arm of government continue to enact laws and regulations that criminalize harmless acts since being tough on crime is good politics and good business. Many legislators campaign on tough-on-crime platforms to pander to public sentiments that they depend on for re-election.

On the other hand, rather than seek the pursuit of justice that is a cardinal reason for their professional calling, prosecutors abuse their extraordinary powers and discretion and charge anyone of a crime, even when there is no probable cause for prosecution. An average prosecutor is driven more by a desire to rack up wins and boost his résumé than to ensure that justice is served. Why? Because doing so enhances his eligibility for more lucrative job offers, and for the prosecutor aspiring to be a politician, it can potentially improve his electoral fortunes.

Regrettably, judges play such a passive role that the fate of defendants is determined in the prosecutors’ offices, rather than in courtrooms. Prosecutors decide who should be free and who should go to jail, and because of their prerogative to pick and choose who should be prosecuted, those accused of crimes might not necessarily be the most deserving of punishment, which makes them arguably the most powerful public officials in America.

Suffice it to say that America operates a two-tiered system of justice: One for the wealthy and powerful and another for ordinary citizens. If you are famous and rich, the law can make some exceptions. Justice isn’t for everyone.

Case in point: It is widely believed that the economic meltdown of 2008 was caused by illicit activities of the big banks and mortgage companies. However, how many of these institutions were prosecuted? Virtually, none.

Compare this treatment with the sledgehammer or heavy-handedness wielded against ordinary citizens or small-scale business owners who run afoul of the law, even for technical violations. In the last several years, Wall Street has been bedeviled by widespread corruption of incalculable magnitude, with little or no repercussions. At worst, they get a slap on the wrist with paltry fines, after which, it’s business as usual.

One of the principles of the American justice system, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, is that everyone has a right to a speedy trial. However, many defendants are held in custody for years without bail, awaiting trial. Moreover, even the right to trial is a chimera because, for those seeking justice at trial, chances of success are slim. And there is always this lingering question: Will justice be served?

With unprecedented conviction rates in the federal courts, the presumption of innocence is simply insufficient to shield a defendant from an unjust conviction. By far, the most vexing issue in the American criminal justice system remains its conspiracy law. It is so bizarre that it has been successfully used by the government to get a conviction in almost every case, making a mockery of the fundamental tenets of the criminal justice system. This abstract and vague law, described by some as lacking a clear definition, is often used to convict innocent people unjustly.

At present, the federal conviction rate is over 95 percent, thanks to the plea-bargaining system. Under this approach, even those who are innocent often plead guilty to a crime they did not commit simply because the consequences of going to trial are so grave that it is not worth the risk. The plea bargain is like dangling a carrot before a horse, or an olive branch made so attractive that it traps even the guiltless to agree to accept guilt for crimes that they know nothing about.

Many of the U.S. criminal justice laws lack clear interpretation. The more you try to understand them, the less you comprehend. The U.S. penal code, as it is currently, bears the hallmark of Communist regimes rather than the original foundation of Anglo-American law – which is predicated on the legal concept of mens rea (guilty mind) and actus reus (guilty act).

These principles have been eroded and replaced by numerous laws and regulations that serve no public good, trample on the rights of individuals, and thereby undermine the fundamental principles of freedom and individual liberty. The so-called respect for human rights can only be thought of in comparative terms, and lack of a guilty mind no longer matter in criminal cases in U.S. courts. The system is such that many benefit from large scale convictions.

In any civilized dispensation, imprisonment is used for persistent offenders, those who pose a threat to others, and when no other alternative is available. But in America, this is hardly the case. Prisons are populated with first-time and non-violent offenders and, worse, innocent people who were wrongly convicted.

Although there has been a remarkable improvement in civil rights since Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, racial disparity in the dispensation of justice remains commonplace in the U.S. legal system. The number of blacks serving time in U.S. prisons is unsettlingly disproportional to that of whites. Blacks are about 13 percent of the overall U.S. population, but make up 37.9 percent of prison inmates.³ The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that In 2014, 6% of all black males ages 30 to 39 were in prison, compared to 2% of Hispanic and 1% of white males in the same age group.⁴

The extravagant use of long-term imprisonment, as if that was the only option, is a stain on the nation’s conscience. The norm in many civilized societies is to use confinement sparingly, and only as a last resort. However, in America, it is the first option. This should not be the case. Incarceration is meant to reform and rehabilitate offenders, not merely as an instrument of punishment.

Today, many are serving life sentences for non-violent crimes. Under normal circumstances, life imprisonment should be imposed only in extreme situations and where there is no other viable option. In his address to a joint session of Congress during his U.S. visit in September 2015, Pope Francis restated his call to end life sentences: [A] just and necessary punishment, he remarked, must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.

Many Americans are losing faith in their legal system, and a lot more are likely to do so. Thus, it’s only a question of time before an unjust criminal justice system breeds widespread contempt for what was once a cherished institution. America needs a more rational and sensible justice system, one that is fair—a people’s justice system—that all can trust to protect them while punishing offenders appropriately and ensuring that innocent people are not unfairly prosecuted or imprisoned.

Unfortunately, public opinion is currently on the side of the criminal justice system. Most Americans are indifferent about the ills of the system because they are unaffected by these evils; because many believe the big lie; and because many think that the system adequately protects them. Only a small fragment of society (victims and their families and concerned citizens) fully appreciate the depth of decay of the system. Sadly, only by recognizing that a problem exists is resolution even possible.

America was founded as a Christian nation and Americans pledge allegiance to One Nation Under God. Therefore, the United States cannot make moral judgments on other countries while turning a blind eye to the ethical lapses in its criminal justice system.

Presently, the system is inherently corrupt and fraught with problems. Subtle and sometimes overt abuses that exist are appalling. You hear of witness intimidation, direct and indirect threats by government agents against friends and families of defendants, and government using false witnesses to get convictions despite prosecutors’ well-established ethical and Constitutional obligation not simply to win a case, but to ensure that justice is served.

Given the depravity with which prosecutors do their jobs, one is apt to think that their larger goal is not to serve the public interest, but that of self. A prosecutor must reconcile the responsibility to protect the public with the need to respect the rights of defendants under the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

Criminals deserve to be punished as a deterrent to others, and it is the responsibility of the government to protect society from harm. Society has the right to demand that those who violate its rules and norms pay a price and, therefore, retribution and punishment are well-deserved and appropriate actions for wrong-doing. Still, punishment must fit the crime and the innocent must not suffer unjustly for crimes not committed.

There is no justification for mass incarceration; it can no longer be defended morally. A rational approach to the criminal justice system in America might someday be possible, but not anytime soon given the interplay of politics and business within it. Nonetheless, the fact that criminal justice reform is now part of America’s political discourse underlines its importance, and no one is more qualified to talk about it than one who lived through it for nearly four years.

Every chapter of this book increases the reader’s understanding of the critical factors undermining the efficient functioning of the U.S. justice system. American Criminal Justice System, Inc: Rogue Prosecutions in an Era of Mass Incarceration, is a product of my experience with the U.S. legal system. It is also a concept of the knowledge I gained from many that I met in prison—guilty and innocent. This book communicates clearly and presents the most compelling arguments yet of how government prosecutors and their cronies use crazy laws, plea bargain, false witnesses and other unwholesome tactics to oppress its people. These issues, disturbing though they are, alone could not have been enough reason to write this book if they had been the exceptions and not the rule. But they are institutionalized and have become the culture. With so many locked up, the United States has become a nation that feeds on its own.

This book will impact useful information and benefit the readers in a significant way. It will also remind me that every day that I live in freedom, many languish in captivity.

Endnotes

John S. Baker. Revisiting the Explosive Growth of Federal Crimes, available at http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/06/revisiting-the-explosive-growth-of-federal-crimes.

Charles G. Koch & Mark V. Holden. Overcriminalization of America. How to reduce poverty and improve race relations by rethinking our justice system. January 07, 2015, available at http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/overcriminalization-of-america-113991.

Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2016, available at https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp.

Prisoners in 2014. U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics, available at https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf.

CHAPTER 1:

Introduction

You don’t have to Commit a Crime to end up in Prison

This book is about how and why the American criminal justice system is now deteriorating into a debacle that is a betrayal of everything it is meant to stand for.

I believe it is my duty to reveal not only how this situation affected me personally but, more importantly, to shine a spotlight on a system that is crumbling into a mockery of the very concept of justice. I also felt it was imperative to expose the venal motivations and policies that, if not corrected, will lead to the destruction of one of America’s most fundamental institutions. 

However, writing this book was far from easy for me because I was brought up to have profound respect for the law. Back in my native Nigeria, I had been contentedly pursuing a career as a university lecturer while planning to raise a family. But life was becoming intolerable as political, economic and social upheaval raged in response to the violent annulment of a national election. In 1994, I emigrated to Canada.

As my family thrived in our peaceful new environment, I never even considered relocating to the United States. However, in 2000, I was offered a job as an IT consultant at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. After discussing it with my wife, I decided to try living in the alluring country that had both captivated my imagination with its rich history and won my admiration for its laudably democratic policies.

But my positive view of America faltered when I was entrapped by a sweeping investigation of a multi-million-dollar fraud that became a media sensation. My assumption that I was living in a world that made sense shattered when I was abruptly arrested for crimes I had not committed. And my faith in America’s innate sense of fair play was destroyed completely during four years of brutal and undeserved incarceration. Here’s how it all began.

……………

October 4, 2012 was supposed to be like any other day. But at 6:00 AM, I was suddenly awakened by a cacophony of deafening noises coming from the main entrance of my home in Grand Prairie, Texas. The sounds grew louder and more urgent.

What immediately came to my drowsy mind was that something must have happened to my eldest son, who should be at the bus stop for school by then.

I rushed to the door. There I found a menacing horde of the FBI, OIG, and Grand Prairie police officers.

All were brandishing guns pointed in my direction. All were shouting rapid-fire commands I could barely understand. I had never seen such a terrifying display of force except in a movie.

Disoriented and nearly frozen in fear, I staggered into my home office, adjacent to the main entrance door. Simultaneously, I heard the officers bellowing at the top of their lungs: Come out and lay flat.

The fog of sleep that had blurred my vision vanished as I confronted the reality of the surreal situation. Recovering from my initial shock, I followed the orders to drop to the floor. Immediately, my hands were shackled, and I was dragged to my feet.

Then I saw a sinister figure I had been trying to forget. It was OIG Special Agent Matthew Kirk, and he was pointing a flashlight, not to my face but his own. Do you remember me? He snarled. It was his way of telling me that he was now making good on a threat I had not understood when he had interrogated me four months earlier.

Kirk and another officer escorted me to my bedroom closet to change into street clothing. Then they yanked off my necklace, bracelet and even the inexpensive wedding ring I had treasured as a symbol of how far my wife and I had come. (The ring was never returned.)

After I had been dressed, the agents prodded me back to the front door. Then they asked my wife whether anyone was upstairs. Yes, the kids, she responded in a shaky voice.

Three FBI officers began racing upstairs. But midway, a female officer cautioned them to let my wife accompany them in order not to scare the kids. They first went to my ten-year-old daughter’s room, where she and a friend were having a sleepover. The officers wrenched the girls awake, jolting them into panic mode.

Both sprang up and clung to my wife’s leg, immobilizing her. She literally dragged the girls to my 12-year-old son’s room. Awakened by all the noise, he was rattled by the sight of armed strangers.

The stunning display of fury seemed to my family and me like an invasion of a terrorist or a serial killer’s fortress. It was the equivalent of shock and awe.

Like commandos in enemy territory, many of the armed agents had taken positions in different areas in the vicinity. It was as if the heart and soul of America rested on the success or failure of their mission at my residence. The entire street was cordoned off. A neighbor told my wife later that she had even spotted a helicopter hovering above our house during the raid.

Throughout the entire incident, I was treated like a hardened, long sought-after criminal and humiliated in front of my family. My wife sobbed and kept pleading with the officers not to hurt an innocent man. My children were terrified.

Trying to make sense of the situation, my son repeatedly asked, Are you sure you are at the right address? He knew that his dad was by no means a criminal and that what was happening was inconsistent with his character.

None of that mattered to the determined agents, who told my wife that they were just doing their job. As they loaded me into an FBI car, my daughter wailed and then managed to blurt out: Bye, Dad. She was so traumatized that she never again slept in her room by herself.

As the car prepared to zoom off, my wife hurried some steps to ask me, whom shall I call to notify of the situation?

On the street, I saw, even more, officers—all there for me. Neighbors were standing spellbound.

This is not a dream, I silently said to myself as I was driven away. In one moment, my world had been shattered; my life changed. I had no idea what lay ahead. Even though Kirk had