Paul Quinn wrote about the prosecution against Oxford FBI Agent Hal Neilson in the Sunday issue of the Oxford Enterprise. The indictment and a description of the charges was posted here.
Paul Quinn’s article–which is not available online–does confirm what I’d been told, that Ken Coghlan will be representing Neilson (though as a public defender). Quinn quotes the Daily Journal article I had earlier linked about Neilson questioning the US Attorneys office and Jim Greenlee “for allegedly seeking information on Mulsicms throughout the region after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and accused the agency of falsifying evidence in some cases and in entrapment and coercion of witnesses.” He notes that “two local attorneys with direct knowledge of the case” state this may “play into Neilson’s defense,” with a “claim the indictment was a retailatory move…” The article also says that the Enterprise
has learned that Greenlee’s office was never directly involved with the investigation. According to two well-placed sources, Grenelee’s office leraned of Neilson’s financial interest in the building and first thought of it as an ethical violation. They referred the case to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General’s office, which reviewed the case, decided it was a criminal matter and immediately assigned it to the Baton Rouge office.
The sources said the Inspector General never considered letting Greenlee’s office handle the investigation adn that “Greenelee’s office as kept in the dark” during the rest of the investigation. The article also notes that Tony Farese is representing Dino Grisanti, one of the co-owners of the company holding the building involved in the charge.
On another US Atty note…the son of the US Atty in Shreveport just got arrested for trying to tap Sen. Landrieu’s phone in NOLA. AND one of his accomplices was the “pimp” that busted ACORN
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/acorn_gotcha_man_arrested_for.html
the son of the US Atty in Shreveport
Acting USA, which I’m guessing means “Bush holdover”?
Regardless, toooooo funny.
MUSLIMS in Oxford. Shortly after 9/11 I was driving across North Mississippi while listening to Morning Edition on NPR and I almost lost control when it was reported that a secret meeting to plan how to raise funds for HAMAS had been held in … Oxford, Mississippi! On December 26, 1993, FBI agents searched the Oxford, Miss., home of Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar. Apparently the investigation was into the Holy Land Foundation and also involved Mousa Abu Marzook. I don’t have a clue what Jim Greenlee may have been interested in right after 9/11, but I do remember that right after 9/11 a major source of interest was in cutting off any US funds which were supporting terrorism. Given the fact that a HAMAS meeting had already occurred in Oxford in the past, it seems reasonable for the US Attorney’s office to at least do some checking.
Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar is in fed pen serving 11 years 4 obstruction of justice and refusing to testify to a federal grand jury, I believe. He ran up $250k legal bill which enabled him to beat the terrorism charge.
greenlee didn’t go after muslims. he didn’t go after terrorists. greenelee went after owners of convenience stores with “islamic-sounding names”. racist. stupid. ignorant. but in a few days greenlee will be out of office. greenlee let ed peters off the hook but not waheed of the local quicky mart.
U hear u ampal. I 2 would have liked 2 c Ed Peters get what he deserves. He was DA in Jackson forever and seemed like he was using his discretion in either a highly political way or supporting the Highly Placed Drug Dealers Foundation. The democrats in the US Attorney’s Office (B. Piggott, C. Reeves, et al) were more like social workers than prosecutors. Lampton got into the Jackson wholesale drug market more than anyone else to date and Greenlee did the same with the Crooked Lawyers and Judges of Mississippi Foundation.