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Pre-Plea Brady/Giglio Disclosures: Beware Of Prosecutors Bearing Gifts
By Barry Tarlow
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RICO Report columns.
This past August, something unusual happened — something aptly described by San Francisco defense lawyer and NACDL member Ian Loveseth as “a Perry Mason moment.” On cross-examination, DEA agent Dwayne Bareng took the Fifth Amendment when pressed about what exactly he knew about the unreliability of the key informer, Essam Magid.
Bareng called Magid “the most productive informant” he ever had. As it turns out, several agents at the DEA were well aware that in 2002 the FBI fired Magid for disclosing agents’ names to the suspects of a terrorism investigation and engaging in a variety of misconduct. He also threatened witnesses and was known to lie in court. Dean E. Murphy, U.S. Ordered to Investigate Use of Disputed Informant, N.Y. Times (Aug. 23, 2005); see Pamela MacLean, Informant Case Reveals Strains in the System: Judge Orders Probe of Undercover Agent, National L.J. (Aug. 29, 2005); Dennis J. Opatmy, U.S. Probes Perjury Charge Leveled at Agent, L.A. Daily J. at 3 (Sept. 8, 2005). B
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