DIFFERENT ANGLE by Kenneth Rijock
The US Department of Justice is asking the Federal courts to deny the public electronic access to specific court documents, being plea agreements, in criminal cases. Internet users can globally access the US government subscription website, PACER, which is an acronym for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, and read exact details of the cooperation agreed to by defendants in Federal criminal cases. Due to the widespread publication of this sensitive information on the web, American law enforcement is seeking to deny remote access through the governmental website. Commercial websites, such as " who's a rat.com" are selling this information, and prosecutors fear that criminal elements will use the data, seeking to name and shame cooperating witnesses.
- Knowing exactly what a defendant has committed to do is important. Has he agreed to work undercover and to render substantial assistance by seeking to "sting" or entrap individuals or entities, in an effort to lessen his sentence? If this person is a customer, or an officer in a company that is a client, this little detail has a major effect on the risks of carrying his accounts at your bank.
- Plea agreements often allow one to plead guilty to lesser, or more minor, offences. This fact also affects your estimate of the level of risk, should he be involved in transactions with your institution or clients, directly or indirectly.
- The defendant may claim that old criminal charges, pending for years, are without merit, for the case has never gone to trial. In truth and in fact, a plea agreement may explain that his cooperation is of a continuing nature, and at the close of which he shall be sentenced or fined. Innocent? You be the judge.
- Plea agreements, unlike court pleadings (which are signed by their attorneys of record), are signed by the defendants themselves, as proof of their consent to the terms thereof. Since the documents are scanned in, it is a great source of signature exemplars.
Of course, this is the electronic, not actual hard copy, version of the plea agreement. Unless it is sealed by court order, it is available in the court file at the District Court clerk's office. However, one must be in that city to view it. PACER is accessible from anywhere there is Internet access.
Some Federal courts are already restricting access to plea agreements. Will this practice become universal in the United States? we cannot say, but World-Check will monitor all developments in this story as they occur, and report back to its readers.
The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.
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