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Heymann / Ortiz letter to reps

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Jun 16th, 2013
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  1. Hold Boston US Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Assistant US Attorney Stephen Heymann accountable for prosecutorial overreach in the Aaron Swartz case. This should be especially revisited in light of revelations of a history of using unnecessary overbearing and heavy-handed techniques. Tell President Obama to respond to the petitions (linked below) which had received far more than the needed number of signatures to garner a response by February. Yet, 4-months later Americans are still waiting for a response.
  2. Is this the new responsive, transparent government we hoped we had elected at work? No, this is the same dysfunctional government that has done precious little in 20 years, except trample on civil liberties in the name of protecting against terrorism, with approval ratings constantly at all time lows.
  3.  
  4. Two decades before the White House was petitioned to remove U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz
  5. (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck)
  6. and her Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann
  7. (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/fire-assistant-us-attorney-steve-heymann/RJKSY2nb) from their jobs for allegedly overzealous prosecution of Aaron Swartz
  8. (http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/01/12/1240255/aaron-swartz-commits-suicide)
  9. 'sometimes heavy-handed tactics and inaccuracies' were reported
  10. (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/access/61752023.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+3,+1993&author=Gregg+Krupa,+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Choice+for+deputy+attorney+general+lauded+as+legal+scholar,+prosecutor)
  11. of an NFL investigation into sexual harassment charges made by a sportswriter
  12. (http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/28/sports/patriots-and-3-players-fined-in-olson-incident.html)
  13. against the New England Patriots that was led by Watergate prosecutor Philip Heymann (Stephen's father) and included Ortiz
  14. (http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/meetattorney.html).
  15. 'From the day Philip Heymann and his colleagues walked into Foxboro Stadium to investigate Lisa Olson's charges of sexual harassment,
  16. (https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/access/61796192.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+28,+1992&author=Ron+Borges,+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=55&desc=Heymann's+team+prompted+complaints)
  17. the New England Patriots were on the defensive, and apparently, they stayed there to the end.' One day after conducting a preliminary six-hour interview with Olson, Heymann introduced each investigator to the Patriots and outlined their backgrounds at a meeting he later called benign. Yet he also said two weeks ago, "They were frightened from the beginning by the way I introduced people. I said that Jerry O'Sullivan
  18. (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/02/14/jeremiah_t_osullivan_66_prosecutor_ran_force_against_organized_crime_in_ne/)
  19. had been US Attorney. I said Jim Ring had been FBI special agent in charge of organized crime."
  20.  
  21. Heymann's investigator Carmen Ortiz wrote in a memo of her Oct. 18, 1990, interview with [Lisa Olson] that she took no notes and did not tape-record the conversation. Yet she used direct quotes when writing up her 15-page report on the session. When asked to explain, she referred the Globe to Heymann.' Aside from transcripts of two interviews (the tapes of which were destroyed)
  22. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/access/59229492.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+3,+1991&author=Matthew+Brelis,+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=League+may+have+to+release+Olson+memos
  23. the NFL kept no notes on its interviews with 89 other people. '"It was contemplated that there would be a motion such as this [a lawsuit by Olson] and we did not want to create that type of document," an NFL attorney explained, an attorney representing the Patriots said that 'one reason the tapes were destroyed may be that the NFL did not want anyone to hear raised voices or pounding of tables. He said some of those interviewed were not allowed to leave the room and had their livelihoods threatened if they did not cooperate.' Curiously, the elder Heymann featured prominently in a recently-upheld DOJ motion
  24. (http://tech.mit.edu/V133/N26/swartz.html) (https://ia700504.us.archive.org/29/items/gov.uscourts.mad.137971//gov.uscourts.mad.137971.112.0.pdf)
  25. to keep the names of key people involved in the Aaron Swartz case secret — a postcard threat
  26. (https://ia700504.us.archive.org/29/items/gov.uscourts.mad.137971/gov.uscourts.mad.137971.112.7.pdf)
  27. received by Philip Heymann was cited by Ortiz's office as evidence of why such secrecy was necessary."
  28.  
  29. Sincerely,
  30. --Your Name
  31. Your City, State
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