‘Hundreds of Thousands of Pages’ of EDA criminal case discovery at issue

The Warren County Courthouse continues to be ground zero for legal consequences of the EDA financial fraud investigation. Royal Examiner File Photos/Roger Bianchini

Motions hearings for four EDA criminal defendants Tuesday afternoon revealed that the problem of sifting through prosecution material related to charges against them may be deeper, much deeper than anticipated.

The first hint of how deep came early in the 3 p.m. Warren County Circuit Court docket when Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Layton told the court that EDA civil attorneys from the Sands Anderson law firm hoped to have “hundreds of thousands of pages” of documents turned over and digitized into the Court Clerk’s computer system “by the end of the week”.

Layton explained that he had requested the presence of Acting Circuit Court Clerk Janice Shanks at the October 15 hearings for Jennifer McDonald, Samuel North, William Lambert and Donald Poe to help elaborate on the process of that digitization and its depth. Shanks told Judge Bruce D. Albertson that her liaison at the State Supreme Court told her that the EDA case documentation was “the largest amount of material he had ever seen” tied to a case.

Following adjournment of the hearings, for the most part continued to November 21, at 4 p.m., Shanks responded to a media question on the amount of material being referenced with an estimate of 700,000 pages. Asked about the source of that volume of evidentiary material, Shanks said she could not specify the source of what is currently for the most part sealed material.

“I hope we don’t have to review hundreds of thousands of pages of documents … we are looking for those from January and July 2014,” William Lambert’s attorney Phillip Griffin II told the court of the timeframe of charges against his client.

Earlier Donald Poe attorney William Ashwell said he believed a very specific Discovery Motion on his client’s behalf related to a perjury charge could be provided by the Commonwealth “by the end of the day – If not it goes to our argument that no crime has been committed,” Ashwell said of the perjury charge related to his client’s testimony to the Special Grand Jury empanelled to investigate potential criminality tied to the EDA civil litigation now seeking recovery of $21.3 million dollars.

Ashwell noted that his client was in a somewhat different situation to the other defendant present in that he has a trial date set. That date is December 6, causing more urgency in the Commonwealth’s producing Discovery and Bill of Particulars information to the defense.

Layton, who has been appointed special prosecutor for the EDA Special Grand Jury in the wake of Brian Madden’s departure for a judicial bench seat, told Judge Albertson that the particulars of the perjury and financial charges against Poe “interact with one another” somewhat complicating production of the perjury Discovery Ashwell was requesting.

Judge Albertson granted Ashwell’s motion for a Bill of Particulars in Poe’s perjury case and set a return date set of November 21, at 4 p.m. That is the same date set for continuance to ascertain the status of Commonwealth responses to the Discovery and Bill of Particular motions for all four defendants.

Albertson also gave the prosecution to October 30 to respond to Lambert’s attorney’s request for specific responses on the 2014 dates regarding the charges against the former B&G Goods principal owner.

Also discussed during Tuesday’s hearings was the status of Layton as special prosecutor for the EDA Special Grand Jury. Judge Albertson said it appeared likely that John Bell, who is running unopposed to succeed Madden as Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney after garnering the Republican Committee nomination over Layton, would likely have to recuse himself from the Special Grand Jury probe due to past legal representations.

The judge said it also likely that all attorneys in the new commonwealth’s attorney’s office would also be in the position of recusal for various past professional or other connections. Whether Layton’s tenure would be extended or an attorney or attorneys from another jurisdiction’s commonwealth’s attorney’s office would be appointed was still under consideration.

McDonald criminal attorney Peter Greenspun lamented the prosecutorial complications delaying the court’s ability to set “meaningful trial dates” for his client – “Ms. McDonald would like a more efficient process,” Greenspun told the court.

However all defendants agreed to waive their speedy trial rights as Harrisonburg-based Chief 26th Judicial District Judge Albertson navigates the tricky terrain surrounding the personal and professional intertwining tentacles generating into the community from the EDA financial fraud investigation and the civil and criminal case defendants thus far cited.