Roger Khan saga… Defence, prosecution in tussle over evidence

Jul 17, 2008 News

CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, N.Y: The attorneys of accused Guyanese drug trafficker Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan are accusing prosecutors of getting in the way of the preparation of his case by withholding evidence and taking a long time to respond to correspondence.
In a letter to District Court Judge Dora Irizarry on Monday, defence attorney Robert Simels gave a list of complaints against U.S. Attorney Paige Petersen and her team.

They include failing to provide all relevant conversations recorded on wiretap, providing conversation transcripts that were not updated since they were roughly made at the time the conversations took place, and ignoring his requests to take a second look at a laptop taken from Khan at the time of his arrest.
“The prosecution has continued to ignore my efforts to resolve matters without the court’s attention, only answering letters on the day before we meet with the court, after not responding for weeks or months,” Simels wrote.
Khan, a former businessman and a suspected drug trafficker, is facing multiple counts relating to trafficking cocaine between the U.S. and Guyana. He was arrested in 2006 in Suriname with 11 accomplices, including three former policemen.
Simels’s letter is the latest in a series written to the judge from both sides of the case over disputes about evidence. The judge instructed them to settle the issue over the summer.
“The government has provided the defence with many transcripts, but has not received any objections to the accuracy of the transcripts from the defence to date,” Petersen wrote in a letter dated July 10. “Instead, Mr. Simels writes a letter complaining to the court, before he has even begun the process that the court directed the parties to engage in.”
In his letter on Monday, Simels parried that the prosecution were the ones dragging their feet.
“I think the prosecution’s failure to respond to my request sent weeks ago,” Simels said of the laptop, “is consistent with their endless delays in permitting the defendant to properly prepare for trial.”
“While we have made a good faith effort to work with the prosecution as professionals to obtain information and resolve matters without court intervention, unfortunately this cannot be accomplished,” Simels added.
“In each letter I have sent to the prosecution I have asked them to respond to avoid writing to the court, and they ignore each letter, perhaps hoping that by seeking the court’s intervention it will place the defence in a bad light.”

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Roger Khan saga… Defence, prosecution in tussle over evidence

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