Prosecutors Out of Control

In the KPMG case, Okula's prosecution was found to have violated the defendant's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. The judge wrote that the prosecutors "used their life and death power over KPMG to coerce its personnel to bend to the government's wishes" and described the prosecutors actions as "outrageous and shocking". In the Tollman cases--Okula went after the family in Canada, Britain and the United States--judges have been similarly critical, including a British judge describing Okula's actions as "reprehensible" and a Canadian judge saying "misconduct of this sort cannot ever be tolerated".

Despite this extraordinarily harsh rebukes by three courts in three different countries, Okula continues to practice law, ready to once again run roughshod over the Constitutional rights of defendants. From the court documents, it is clear the prosecutions never should have been brought in the first case. But the rich make easy targets and provide prosecutors a reputation for being for the little guy, which does not hurt if one has political ambitions in a democracy.

Should we care about injustice against the rich as with the KPMG executives or the wealthy Tollman family? The Canadian judge reminds us why. "If the system went awry for [Tollman], what hope is there for the weak, the poor and those less powerful? The answer must be in the vigilance of the justice system itself."

As Thomas Jefferson warned us, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."