Hello, and thank you for taking a moment to learn about this most distressing situation concerning our government, courts, and law enforcement agencies. As of late, it has become abundantly clear to most Americans that many of the individuals whom have been given the responsibility of enforcing the laws that we, the citizens of this great democracy, have voted to have put in place, have themselves been inclined to violate those same laws whenever it suits them.
The situation that is being shared with you here is about such a miscarriage of justice, apparent collusion, and abuses of authority. 54-year- old, District of Columbia native, Lonnell Glover has been sitting in a federal prison for the past nine years after being suspected of and convicted for participation in a narcotic conspiracy, along with more than two-dozen others.
In 2005, the FBI obtained an order from District of Columbia Judge Rosemary Collyer to install a listening device in Mr. Glover’s truck as well as on his cell phone. It was these communications, overheard by way of governmental eavesdropping devices, and interpreted by federal agents, which were used by prosecutors to indict and subsequently incarcerate Mr. Glover.
As far as the feds were concerned, Lonnell Glover was a criminal and he should spend the rest of his life in prison for the non-violent crimes of which he is suspected. Most everyone watches enough television to know the tactic of “bugging” citizens is a common one. But what most Americans do not know is the unconstitutionality of these tactics in a great number of cases. Lonnell Glover and his attorney contend that this is one of those many instances.
In February of 2014 an appeal was heard in the District of Columbia to address the inappropriate, perhaps even deliberately illegal, procedures employed by the government to achieve their intended end. In that hearing it was revealed that District Judge Rosemary Collyer had no legal authority to order a listening device be placed in Lonnell’s truck, which was in Maryland, and at no time came into the DC area where her authority was in effect. The fact of this illegal act should have made any conversations captured by the device inadmissible in a court of law. But it appears federal authorities saw fit to overlook those facts and thus consciously and deliberately pursue an illegal line of action, which directly resulted in the conviction of Lonnell Glover. Raising the issue of this more than questionable behavior, Lonnell’s appellate lawyer argued correctly that Judge Collyer lacked jurisdiction to authorize the bug’s installation.
In response, Judge Thomas F. Hogan, in whose court the appeal was heard, said, “[t]hey had a warrant allowing them to place the device in the truck. I mean there’s nothing facially wrong with the warrant.” To which Lonnell’s lawyer responded, “the Judge (Collyer) did not have the authority to issue a warrant to apply a device on a vehicle that’s outside her jurisdiction. And I don't think there’s any dispute about that.” According to court records, in a pretrial suppression motion, District Judge Hogan stated that if the appeals court sent his ruling back, he would “fix” his judgment.
The appeals court did in fact send the issue back but Judge Hogan did not stand true to his word to correct his ruling. Like you, Lonnell has a mother, a father, children, and friends, and is, like you, part of a community, where he is still respected and loved. I share this to make plain the fact that regardless of judgments inside or outside of a courtroom, Lonnell, like you, is a living, breathing, loving human being. Even more, Lonnell Glover is an American citizen, and as such, deserves the due process that every other human being in this constitutional democracy is guaranteed.
The government denied Lonnell the opportunity to employ the attorney of his choosing, siting their suspicions that any funds he would pay his lawyer would have been derived from his suspected illegal activity. This was after confiscating more than a million dollars of Mr. Glover’s money, which he could show was acquired over time through his legitimate trucking company.
In light of these circumstances Lonnell was assigned, by his opposition (the government), a lawyer to represent him in court. This sounds fair enough, until you take into consideration that the public defender Lonnell was assigned had only recently opened his private practice, and that prior to launching his practice he worked for the prosecutors who were now seeking to put Lonnell in prison for an indefinite period of time. As a result, as any thinking person might expect, Lonnell received ineffective counsel and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
A three-judge panel on the court of appeals deemed that the wiretap was in fact illegal, and the appellate court reversed Lonnell’s conviction. This reversal gave Lonnell the opportunity have his case retried. The purpose of this campaign is to assist Mr. Glover in raising the necessary funds in order to hire a proper defense attorney to represent him in his upcoming retrial in our nation’s capital.
We would like you to also keep in mind that there are stories, almost daily, reported from around the country about individuals who sat in prison for, in some cases, decades, before they could either raise the necessary funds, or learn law to the degree where they could gain the opportunity to regain their liberties.
No system of law can be maintained when those charged with the responsibility of enforcing the law decide to break it for their own selfish gain. No order can be sustained in a society that refuses to participate in the policing and holding accountable of its paid officials.
It is all of our duties to make certain that both citizens and public servants alike are held accountable, and to not allow the matter of money to determine the effectiveness of our judicial system.
Thank you for your time and assistance. GOD Bless America.
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