Legal Update from Rigas Family

The following letter was published via John Rigas’s Facebook page:

by Ellen Rigas Venetis

Last week was a very important one for my father and brother.  On October 4, their lawyers filed a Habeas Memorandum of Law on behalf of Dad and Tim .  The habeas motion is one of the final legal avenues our country’s justice system provides to those who have been convicted.  This has been the primary focus of Dad’s and Tim’s time over the last several months and accounts for their silence here on FB.  We all firmly believe that the brief is very powerful and are hopeful that justice will at long last prevail.

The filing focuses on two main issues, each of which involves government misconduct violating the Rigases’ Constitutional rights.  First, the evidence now shows that the government failed to turn over to the defense highly exculpatory evidence generated by its pre-trial interview of Carl Rothenberger—the long-time counsel for Adelphia and the Rigas family.  Second, the evidence reveals that in the spring of 2002 the government effectively hijacked Adelphia and turned it into an instrument of prosecution.  By threatening to indict Adelphia, the government compelled the company’s “cooperation,”  using Adelphia as its agent to engage in such unconstitutional practices as impeding the Rigases’s ability to fund an effective defense and blocking the family’s access to critical witnesses and documents.

For those of you who are interested in reading the habeas, here is a link:  http://johnrigas.com/files/Rigas__Habeas__Memorandum_of_Law_10-4-11.pdf.  There are links to the accompanying declarations at http://johnrigas.com/.   Dad and Tim would appreciate your comments and reactions.

My father would also like all of you to know that although you haven’t heard from him for some time, he remains grateful for so much support.  Now that the habeas brief has been filed, Dad will most likely be able to focus more of his attention on FB.  He wishes he could be in continual contact with each of you to share your joys and to help sustain you through your sorrows but this, of course, is impossible.  Please know, however, that you remain in his thoughts and prayers.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/john-rigas/greetings-from-my-dad-and-legal-update/292768380750708