Seth Williams Scandal: Has the District Attorney Jumped the Shark?

Aug. 31, 2016

In early on 2008, I had lunch at McCormick & Schmick's with a young, up-and-coming local politico. He had recently returned from a route trip, having packed his then-married woman and immature kids into the motorcar to brand the trek to the steps of the Illinois state capitol to hear Senator Barack Obama declare his candidacy for the presidency of the United states of america.

I don't recollect precisely what was said during that tiffin, but I do recollect that this immature African American Philly lawyer made a passionate argument for the significant of Obama. That this wasn't simply another political candidacy, that it represented a new way of doing politics. Obama was in single digits in the polls—Hillary Clinton, the conventional wisdom held, had a lock on her party'south nomination—just across from me sat this living, breathing embodiment of what Obama would keep to identify as the the product of the "audacity of hope." Williams was effectively predicting the future that twenty-four hour period and his passion for change was palpable. I remember getting dorsum to my role and telling colleagues that this Seth Williams guy? He's somebody to watch.

Well, it's eight years after, and I can't assist merely wonder where that Seth Williams has gone. The change agent who saturday across from me has not only turned into the keeper of a tired status quo, this Seth Williams has been a District Chaser with a stunning lack of sound judgment in recent years: Diddled prosecutions, stubbornly wrongheaded retrials, an ongoing FBI investigation into his finances (seriously, using campaign coin for a Sporting Gild membership?) and the expenditures of his nonprofit, The 2d Chance Foundation.

And now comes Williams' belated disclosure that he accepted a litany of Lifestyle of The Rich and Famous-like gifts—$160,000 betwixt 2010 and 2015!—that has led to speculation that the Commune Attorney'due south office has been for auction. To be articulate, I don't think it was; it seems likely that Williams' missteps have been due to incompetence and not venality. And allow's concede that, especially early on, Williams enacted some solid reforms, like assigning prosecutors to specific communities and issuing fines instead of jail time for marijuana possession.

Simply any good Williams has accomplished is far overshadowed by his design of doubtable judgment. Williams, for example, appears unable to run across that accepting perks from, for example, the Eagles when cases involving two of their players were brought before the authorities ought to disqualify one from serving every bit the city's top law enforcement officer. Yes, politicians take gifts—especially Philly pols. Just the bar should be higher for District Attorneys, because you lot never know just who might be charged with breaking the law. Every interaction by a prosecutor is rife with the potential for conflict of interest.

Say what you will about Williams' predecessor, Lynne Abraham—and I've oftentimes vehemently disagreed with her, particularly when it comes to death penalty and marijuana laws—but there are few public figures in Philadelphia history with a more pristine reputation for honesty. You won't discover any FBI investigations into her finances, which, when talking near a Philly political leader, is cause for commendation. "Even if Lynne Abraham were starving to decease, she would non accept taken those gifts," an Assistant District Attorney who served nether both Abraham and Williams told me. Williams rose to power in role past challenging Abraham, his onetime mentor, and has now prepare the credibility of the office dorsum.

Hither are merely a few of the head-scratchers:

While candidates for mayor sell their power to build various coalitions and those seeking Metropolis Council seats argue that they have unique policy chops, District Attorney races by and large come up down to 1 thing: Judgment. Elect me, candidates say, and I'll make smart choices that keep you safe.

Well, nosotros starting time started getting an inkling that Williams would exist judgment-challenged in 2011, when information technology came to light that a young female ADA on his staff was having an affair with a Rastafarian drug dealer—the police discovered the human relationship while serving a warrant and seeing photos of the ii together. When Williams responded with a wrist slap—transferring the ADA to another office, information technology sent a signal to his staff, another ADA once told me, "that Seth cares more nearly being a nice guy than a leader."

Even then, Williams' ambition seemed all-encompassing. He made national headlines by convicting Monsignor William Lynn for endangering the welfare of a child past protecting a pedophile priest. Williams hailed it as a "historic prosecution." But rather than focusing on the task at hand, his part focused its efforts on scoring political points past dredging up years of irrelevant history of the Catholic Church. The DA offered evidence of a culture of abuse dating back to 1940, which the Supreme Court found prejudicial, causing information technology to overturn the confidence. Lynn, afterwards all, had nothing to do with those long-agone cases. Williams' overreach price his part a valuable conviction, and toll valuable taxpayer money to pay for a new trial.

Last week, information technology took a jury to exonerate and release Anthony Wright from prison—three years after DNA prove finer cleared him of the murder he'd been coerced into confessing to a quarter century ago. Despite all the evidence, Williams stubbornly went ahead with the doomed retrial, leaving the jurors balked that the instance was fifty-fifty pursued.

Yes, politicians accept gifts—particularly Philly pols. Simply the bar should be higher for Commune Attorneys, because you never know but who might exist charged with breaking the law. Every interaction by a prosecutor is rife with the potential for disharmonize of interest.

Earlier this week, Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky reminded u.s. of another case in which Williams has stubbornly refused to do the right thing. Bykofsky has argued the example of Marcus Perez for years. He's doing a life sentence at Graterford after a judge erroneously told him if he pled guilty, he wouldn't get a life sentence. The approximate has copped to a clear case of judicial error, simply Williams has consistently stood in the way of righting the wrong.

Why, Seth? Much has been written nearly the insular world of cop culture, with its "us against them" mentality and its blue wall of silence. Well, the same conditions frequently pertain to prosecutors, as a ProPublica report made clear a few years ago. In our system, defense force attorneys are supposed to advocate on behalf of their client, and prosecutors are supposed to dispassionately administer justice on behalf of the people—including the defendants themselves. But prosecutors are oftentimes true believers themselves; they're human, later all, and given to many of the foibles Williams has exhibited, hubris and blinding ambition amidst them.

Or how almost when Williams hired prosecutor Frank Fina, Kathleen Kane's arch-nemesis? When, amid all that drama, it came to light that Fina had participated in an offensive statewide email chain—calling it porn is a misnomer, as many of the electronic mail videos were as racist and homophobic as can exist—Williams' wrist-slap was not only stubborn, but tone-deafened. Somehow, the enlightened progressive I broke breadstuff with eight years agone had get a de facto defender of the ol' boys social club he was paying lip service to toppling dorsum then.

And now comes the gifts. Boy, oh, boy. The $45,000 roof, the Key Westward vacations courtesy of a defense lawyer who represents clients facing charges brought past Williams' office and $6,000 in gifts from a Mutual Pleas judge who ascended to the bench because Williams had "vouched for him."

I don't know about you, simply the near I normally become from my closest friends is an obstructed view Phillies seat (at present that they suck) and a souvenir certificate to Hooters. Simply obviously I don't run in Williams' kind of crowd.

Metropolis law puts few limits on the acceptance of gifts by public officials, though it requires full and timely disclosure. Williams' lawyer is seeking to negotiate ceremonious financial penalties with the state Ethics Committee and the Philadelphia Board of Ethics for his lack of disclosure; failing to report gifts tin be as high as $1,000 nether city rules and are capped at $250 per year nether state law.

Kathleen Kane and Williams are not and then dissimilar. Because when tests of character come, as they inevitably do in large city politics, relative novices ofttimes react from a place of insecurity and ego. Kane and Williams may hate each other, but in their hubris, lack of judgment, and blind ambition, the sad story is that they're very much akin.

That will probably be the end of the consequence of Williams' gifts. In June, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, establishing that there must be a straight quid pro quo tying the acceptance of gifts to official public acts. Despite his odd comments in Philly Mag last month, complaining that he tin can't make ends meet on his $175,000 salary, there'south no reason to believe that Williams was cut quid pro quo deals and selling justice to the highest applicant. No, he was playing the game the way it's long been played in Philly: With ethical blinders on…which is kind of worse.

I don't know precisely why Seth Williams lost his way, but I tin estimate. We're seeing it an awful lot these days. We encounter the rapid rise of a new face on the scene—be it Williams or, ironically, his nemesis Kane—and perhaps they're not seasoned enough yet for big league brawl. But they do love the celebrityhood. Kane, who had never run for office before, seemed puffed up by the mindless media speculation about her as a presidential contender and was more interested in making headlines—and getting back at those who orchestrated bad ones nearly her.

Williams, who also had never run for office before his claiming to Abraham in 2005, rolled throughout the urban center in a black SUV with a team of bodyguards and certain seemed to love his sideline pass to Eagles games. Like Kane, it seems similar his life is awash in drama; on Dominicus, police charged his girlfriend with slashing two city-owned cars outside his house nine months ago. And, in that Philly Magazine interview with David Gambacorta, Williams can't keep himself from explaining away the FBI probe as the work of Kane'south dingy tricks—as if she'southward proven herself to be a master Machiavellian player who would take the ability to orchestrate a federal investigation.

Come to think of it, Kane and Williams are not so different. Because when tests of grapheme come, equally they inevitably do in big urban center politics, relative novices often react from a place of insecurity and ego. Kane and Williams may hate each other, but in their hubris, lack of judgment, and blind ambition, the pitiful story is that they're very much alike.

Aye, no doubt, both have had detractors bent on bringing them down. But both have also embraced their ain victimhood and specialized in sick-brash decision-making. For example, permit's forget the Ethics Lath and the laws surrounding disclosure. If you're the Commune Attorney, never knowing just whose case might come before your office, don't you lot know—like Lynne Abraham knew—that the correct affair is not to compromise the perception of your office by taking annihilation from anyone? (Remember, Williams punted on investigating John Dougherty earlier this year, boot it to the state, because he'd accepted entrada donations from the labor leader). Do nosotros need ideals laws and ethics training for public officials to know this? Seems to me, the Seth Williams saga—similar the Kane soap opera—is proof that all the ethics laws in the land won't create ethical public servants.

Header photo by Flickr/Philadelphia City Quango

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/seth-williams-scandal/

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