Fahie seeks dismissal over alleged US gov’t misconduct

Fahie Former Premier Andrew Fahie has asked a United States appeals court to dismiss his convictions, arguing that alleged government misconduct and false or misleading testimony deprived him of a fair trial. Fahie’s attorneys made the request in a reply brief filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on September 8. The defence argued that the prosecution withheld information relevant to Fahie’s case and that a federal agent gave misleading or false evidence about the credibility of the confidential informant (CI) used in the sting operation. According to the filing, a Mexican federal judge had previously questioned the informant’s truthfulness while dismissing drug charges in a separate case involving a senior Mexican government official.

No opportunity to establish informant’s credibility Fahie’s attorneys argued that this information was particularly important because the informant did not testify at his trial. They said the court and jury instead had to rely on the federal agent’s assurances about the informant’s reliability. “The CI did not testify at Mr Fahie’s trial, so neither the district court nor the jury could examine for themselves the CI’s demeanor or motives to establish his credibility or to evaluate the truthfulness of his interactions with Mr Fahie,” the defence stated. The brief said the agent described the informant as “reliable, trustworthy” during a pretrial detention hearing and denied knowing of any occasion when information provided by the informant had been questioned. Fahie’s attorneys contended that the government’s own sealed submission contradicted that evidence. They also argued that the agent made misleading or false statements while testifying before the jury. The defence noted that the trial judge described the…