Wednesday, January 16, 2019

The William Baskerville Case: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel AGAIN

I have discussed William Baskerville's case on this blog in past and its connection to the Paul Bergrin case. In my last post, I included updates and addressed the evidentiary hearing ordered by the court. I have the feeling that US District Judge Sheridan expected to move to the hearing rather quickly, but once again, William has an uninterested attorney assigned. However, this time no attorney will be allowed to sabotage his case. I believe that the letter was mailed to the court yesterday. William copied to me and I am publishing here as I believe that we need to keep this case in the sunshine, as we say in Florida.

The letter to the court:

William Baskerville
Date:
Reg. No. 25946-050
FCI McKean Medium

Honorable Judge Peter G. Sheridan, U.S.D.J.
United States District Court
Clarkson S. Fisher Court And
Untied States Courthouse
402 East State Street
Trenton, New Jersey, 08608

RE: UNITED STATES V.WILLIAM BASKERVILLE        Court Appointed Attorney
CIVIL NUMBER 13-5881(PGS)
CRIMINAL NUMBER 03-836(JAP)

Dear Honorable Judge Sheridan,

I am writing to inform you of my various attempts to make initial contact with my recently Court appointed counsel Mr. Bruce Throckmorton. As of the date this Court appointed Mr. Throckmorton to my case, I have made several attempts to communicate with him via email dating from December 12/10/2018- January 14, 2019 which have been to no avail,( See attached Exhibit 1) I had family members continuous make calls to his office and cell phone some he answered and return back but as of late he has not responted, on January 10, 2019 I had the unit Counselor Mr. Miller send him a email to set up a phone conference, and on January 15, 2019 the unit Case Manager Mr. Nero gave me a legal call to try to reach Mr. Throckmorton which was also to no avail.

As a result of my inability to make contact with counsel and counsel's inactions with respect to contacting me I am now respectfully requesting that the Court implement the following solution, which is to appoint new counsel or allow my previous appellate counsel, Mr. Mark A. Berman to be reinstated as my counsel of record regarding my current legal proceedings. At this point I must mention that a potential conflict of interest may exist regarding Mr. Berman being that I previously filed ineffective assistance of counsel claims again him. However, I am willing to waive any potential conflicts of interest issues that may have existed.

It is my position that Mr. Berman is best suited to represent me because of, (1) his familiarity with my case, (2) his strong work ethic and open line of communication with clients, (3) his representation would save the Court valuable time and resources and allow my defense to proceed more fluidly, and (4) his willingness to accept input from me regarding matters pertaining to the case.

In the past I have dealt with lawyers who were unwilling to allow me to provide them with any input or who have litigated my case without informing me of their plan of action. Those experiences have lead to many set backs. I am a litigant who is very much involved in researching my own case and I am hands-on when it comes to the issues I believe should be raised. (Mr. Berman has affirmed these facts in his declaration. Doc. 16 pgs. 6-7 pars. 22-26) I very much would appreciated a lawyer who is going to respect that and allow me to participate in my own defense.

Respectfully Submitted,


UPDATED on JANUARY 24, 2019 with government response to William Baskerville's letter:

W Baskerville Govt Letter Jan 23 2019 


So it is beginning to look like the government shutdown is interrupting the intended sabotage of William's evidentiary hearing. We shall see what happens next.



13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's why we call them PUBLIC PRETENDER/ PUBLIC DEFENDER I will say this he better keep Mr throckmorton off his case as much as he can try too, I smell (sabotage) and last but not least one hell of a name THROCKMORTON.

Vicky Gallas said...

Sorry... I accidentally published some marketing garbage comment instead of yours yesterday.

I have encountered numerous public defenders who were top-notch in Florida. So that topic is up for debate, but the attorney assigned to William is a practicing attorney who is in the CJA pool. I guess when an attorney wants more work they get in the CJA pool. But --- he really doesn't respond to William and William has been doing his own research since his trial and legal docs since his appeal was denied. He's not going to toss the case in any random attorney's lap and hope for the best. His case requires real attention to detail.

Anonymous said...

I DID SEE THAT YESTERDAY NO PROBLEM THOUGH,WISH MR BASKERVILLE THE BEST ON HIS CASE.

Anonymous said...

Also in Newark NJ it's a normal practice for court appointed attorneys to work or side with prosecutors I swear on this, it's the norm that's what they do in NWK NJ.

Anonymous said...

WILLIAM WILL ATTEST TOO THIS.

Vicky Gallas said...

@the Anonymous referencing court appointed attorneys:

I believe that it is the norm as you say, but one thing I've learned over the last decade and more so recently is that there is good and evil everywhere, in every profession. Of course there is also in-between, but it's always the good or the evil that leave lasting impressions.

As one example, in my own case my original attorney that I knew for 10 years and hired to represent me in the racketeering case was a big fail almost out the gate. The overzealous Statewide Prosecutor quickly intimidated him and by the time I saw him for the second time (on that case) he was talking possible deals, kind of throwing his hands up. The only thing that had changed since our first meeting is that he met with John Craft (state prosecutor who pursued me along with lying agents turned federal prosecutor shortly after my acquittal). Did Craft threaten him? I believe so, but couldn't prove it. So I quickly informed him that I decided to represent myself. Did I actually want to? No, but better me than no one.

The prosecutor (Craft) demanded a Faretta hearing. More of the Vicky is crazy crap, but wait... can't prosecute me if I'm actually crazy. Judge granted my attorney's motion to withdraw and the judge appointed an attorney from the Public Defender's Office as stand-by counsel. Now this guy (Greg) was an experienced defense attorney, but I refused his help because I had the same thought you do. I figured I'd just briefly represent myself and find an attorney before trial, which I did, but by the time we were about 1 month into it, I knew that Greg was a great attorney. He did help me to the extent that he was able as stand-by counsel. Before long the prosecutor managed to get him transferred to a different court in the same circuit because it was clear that he was not intimidated.

That PD would have slammed the lousy case against me. One visit he told me how he ended-up as a PD. He was a partner in private practice and had a client that he knew 100% was innocent of murder. He took it to trial and he lost, the jury found his client guilty. He was distraught and in short time left the private practice to work in the PD's office where he believed that he could help defendants who really needed help. When he realized how corrupt the Statewide Prosecutor was and I had found a great attorney, he left the PD's office and went to a different type of private practice (not criminal defense).

More recently I have learned how there is good and evil in health care too, which is not as easy to figure out, at least not for me. Since my acquittal and more in the last 10 years, I have learned the same with LEOs. There really are a lot of bad cops, but there are definitely some good guys too. For years after my acquittal, I considered all LE bad with no exceptions.

Anonymous said...

I practiced crim law for 17 years a legal aide in nyc was expert at getting guys to plead out. One in Nassau county was the best I ever saw. So you can't generalize.

Vicky Gallas said...

It looks like a possibility that Mr. Throckmorton disappeared because with the government shutdown, CJA funds will run out by February.

Vicky Gallas said...

I have my thoughts about this entire situation, which seems to be interrupted by the government shutdown. The government responded to William's letter to the court copied in this post. I am going to edit the post and copy the government's letter into it later today. But here is more information on the situation with CJA attorneys during the shutdown:

https://theappeal.org/government-shutdown-federal-defenders-effects/

‘THE SIXTH AMENDMENT DOESN’T SHUT DOWN WHEN THE GOVERNMENT DOES’

Kira Lerner January 24, 2019



Anonymous said...

WIll the letter be posted today.

Vicky Gallas said...

@the last Anonymous -

Which letter are you referring to?

Anonymous said...

When you said you was going to edit the post and copy the government letter, thank you like ALWAYS.

Vicky Gallas said...

@the last Anonymous:

I put a link in the post under the UPDATE towards the end:

http://www.accusedmadam.com/wp-content/uploads/W-Baskerville-Govt-Letter-Jan-23-2019.pdf

I have checked and as of today there was nothing new filed. Wondering what will happen next!