SINGLETON MOTIONS

WHENEVER a panel of judges cites the Magna Carta, it won't be long before
you pinch yourself and ask who died and made these folks king.

Witness the recent out-of-the-blue decision by a three-judge panel of the
U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver. The judges decided that it is illegal for
federal prosecutors to offer immunity in exchange for testimony; then
likened their ruling to the lesson King John was taught at Runnymede in 1215.

The court could stand a Runnymede. The ruling departs from earlier
deci-sions, and outlaws a long-time practice essential to enabling small
fish to finger insulated crime bosses. The decision is now law in New
Mexico; Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

Already the Rocky Mountain News has reported that federal prosecutors in
Denver have moved to throw out criminal charges against three accused armed
bank robbers because their case relied on two witnesses with leniency
deals. The attorney who won the ruling believes it could help the appeals
of convicted Oklahoma City bombers Timothy Meveigh and Terry Nichols.

The ruling also could chill all pending federal prosecutions and immunity
deals - including a deal for Monica Lewinsky. If other courts adopt this
stand, thugs will rejoice. Mass murderer Charlie Hanson was convicted after
Linda Kasabian testified against him under grant of immunity.

Wichita, attorney John Val Wachtel, who won the decision on behalf of
client Sonya Singleton, expects lawyers across the country to start filing
what are now called "Singleton motions."

Singleton was 24, black and pregnant, when a jury convicted her on one
count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and seven courts of money
laundering and sentenced her to 46 months behind bars. She had been living
with drug dealer - who cut a deal with prosecutors and never seived time.

She was convicted - based on the testimony of another deal-cutter also
higher in the drug chain, also freed from prosecution. She got a raw deal.

"When the government wraps the American flag around a sinner newly come to
Jesus, juries believe them, because that witness is cloaked with the power
and majesty of the United States and my client, a poor little black girl,
is nobody," Wachtel said.

I empathize. But this ruling hits immunity abuses and forthright deals with
the same club. The cure is worse than the disease.

And the ruling was dishonest. As they argued that immunity was tantamount
to bribery, the judges also claimed that their ruling will not outlaw all
immunity deals. Jack King, spokesman for the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers, summed up: "Prosecutors can still try and flip
witnesses, but they can't promise them anything."

That's a joke. First, the decision steps on defendants' rights against
self-incrimination, which may not please defense attorneys who try to help
clients win immunity. Then later, the judges concocted a scenario under
which immunity might be legal - which violates their own logic, that an
immunity offer is inherently corrupting.

Former federal prosecutor Victoria Toensing reacted to the ruling: "I
probably couldn't have done any of my cases. Unless you have an undercover
agent, you couldn't do any cases against higher ups.

Bully for the court. It made it harder for the feds to prosecute small-time
Singletons, and nearly impossible to go after sickos and crime bosses. All
rise.

You can read Debra J. Saunders online at sfgate.com.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski