Thursday, September 1, 2016

Inky Bloodhounds Need A Seeing Eye Dog

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The bloodhounds at our city's intrepid paper of record are hot on the trail of D.A. Seth Williams.

But what those bloodhounds really need is a seeing eye dog to lead the way. Because the bloodhounds are blind, and have been for a long time.

In case you missed it, the Inky's hounds are sniffing a trail of blood left behind by Seth's self-inflicted wounds. It began with $160,000 in undeclared "gifts" that came from donors that included the Philadelphia Eagles, a roofing contractor, and some friendly defense lawyers. Also on the trail is the FBI and a federal grand jury.

The latest blood that was spilled resulted from a confession by the D.A.'s girlfriend, Stacey Cummings, that she had slashed tires on two official city vehicles parked outside Seth's house.

As in the $160,000 in gifts that went unreported for up to six years, Seth waited a while before doing the right thing. Twelve days went by before Seth's security officer finally got around to reporting the crime. Can you say cover-up?

Why would Seth's girlfriend want to slash his tires?

Well, Seth's personal life is known to be something of a mess.

There were so many stories swirling around the bald Lothario that he famously defended himself by telling Philadelphia magazine in 2012, "You've got me fucking all the women in the office."

Another puddle of blood on the trail stems from a recent  decision by the board of directors at a charity that Seth set up, the Second Chance Foundation. The board of directors, after recently receiving a federal subpoena for their records, voted to disband that charity and give away its assets.

If somebody showed up from Mars yesterday, they would have to conclude that Seth Williams is corrupt from head to toe.

Seth knows he's in deep shit. A local politician who recently saw Seth at a party said, "The fear is all over him."

Seth has to know that the feds are all over his list of "donors." He probably lies awake at night wondering how many of those "donors" will roll over and tell the feds that those "gifts" weren't voluntary, and maybe they were even quid pro quos.

Wouldn't that be shocking? Our corrupt D.A. possibly on his way to the slammer?

With the smell of blood in the air, no wonder there's so much excitement down on Market Street, at the headquarters of the new nonprofit Inky.

"While his office smolders, Seth Williams tweets," Inky columnist Mike Newall wrote on Aug. 30th. Newall was recounting the D.A.'s recent musings on social media about such important topics as the block parties he's been attending.

Kind of like Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Newall was pointing out all the hard questions Seth is ducking about the many allegations of corruption that surround our pathetic and embarrassing D.A.

There is one place, however, where the Inky bloodhounds will never go in their relentless quest to expose Seth.

That would be the grandest alleged accomplishment of Seth's corrupt regime as D.A., namely his self-described "historic" prosecution of the local Catholic Church.

Because, as bad as the Inky wants Seth, there is one big sacred cow standing in their way: The sainted alleged victims of sexual abuse, and the beloved media story line about Catholic pedophile priests preying on helpless youngsters.

As bad as the Inky wants Seth, this is one door they refuse to open.

So, according to the Inky's non-logical story line, we are left to assume that a D.A. who takes in $160,000 worth of unreported free gifts, who may be facing penalties for his screwed-up campaign finances, and has a screwed-up private life, suddenly turned into Mr. Clean when he staged his witch hunt against the Catholic Church?

This is a corrupt D.A. who accepted free sideline passes from the Eagles for five years, and then pardoned an Eagle wide receiver for allegedly sexually assaulting a dancer at Cheerleaders.

 A corrupt D.A. who had a roofer install a new roof worth $45,000 for free and didn't see a problem until he found out a federal grand jury was after him.

 A corrupt D.A. who took free vacations paid for by defense lawyers.

A corrupt D.A. who prosecuted a 71-year-old former traffic court judge for accepting as a gift a $2,000 bracelet, but didn't see a problem while he was taking in $160,000 worth of free gifts.

This D.A. is going to do everything on the up and up when he stages a state-sponsored witch hunt?

Well, the evidence is piled high that when he staged his witch hunt, Seth cheated there too.

As previously outlined on this blog, Seth began his witch hunt by charging Msgr. William J. Lynn under a 1972 state child endangerment law. It was a law that a previous D.A., a previous grand jury, and a previous amendment by the state legislature, all had clearly stated in writing didn't apply to Lynn.

Then, Seth rounded up two drug addicted-criminals to pose as sex abuse victims, even though the record showed both were transparent frauds.

And when the facts as gathered by a grand jury didn't match the story line in Seth's 2011 bogus grand jury report, his office brazenly rewrote those facts.

No, Inky bloodhounds, the more logical conclusion is that Seth Williams is corrupt to the core, and that everything he touched is tainted.

Especially his grand crusade against the church.

Because a man without principles, without any regard for the truth, will stop at nothing to get ahead. Even if it involves putting innocent men in jail to promote his political career.

In the Inky's defense, there is one journalist employed at that newspaper who is on to Seth's corruption regarding the Catholic prosecution.

Christine Flowers is a lawyer and a columnist at the Daily News, before Philadelphia Media Network consolidated the Inky, the Daily News, and philly.com into one unified newsroom.

On August 6th, Flowers wrote a column, under the headline, "When justice is blind, but ambition isn't."

In the column, Flowers compared Seth Williams to Mike Nilfong, the disbarred lead prosecutor in the infamous Duke lacrosse rape case. And Marilyn Mosby, the state attorney general of Maryland, who lost three cases in a row attempting to prosecute Baltimore cops for the death of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries received after he took a ride in a police van.

"Beware of ambitious prosecutors with a righteous cause." Flowers began her column for the one unified newsroom. "People who get in their way end up as road kill on the justice highway."

Seth, Flowers wrote, "was hailed as a hero, and set out to get his pound of ecclesiastical flesh by putting [Msgr. Lynn], a man who never touched a child, in jail."

Even though when his conviction was overturned, Msgr. Lynn has served 33 months out of his 36-month sentence, plus 18 months of house arrest, Williams announced he was going to retry the case May 1.

Why?

Because "while justice may be blind," Flowers wrote, "ambition has 20/20 vision."

So we have one journalist at the Inky who gets it.

But wait, you say, you don't remember reading that column?

That's because over at the one unified newsroom, the editors decided they didn't want that column.

So it ran in the Delaware County Times.

Why?

Because in this town, justice is blind.

And so is the paper of record.

 Over at the Inky, the stonewalling continues.

I sent a couple of emails to Stan Wischnowski, vice president of news operations at Philadelphia Media Network, the guy who oversees the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com.

I asked Wischnowski if he could explain why the Inquirer won't touch the Msgr. Lynn story, and why they didn't run the Flowers column.

 He didn't respond to a couple of requests for comment.

Since "Silent Stan" wasn't forthcoming, I reached out to Amy Buckman, spokesperson for Philadelphia Media Network. She did her usual great job of elucidating the public.

"We have no comment," Buckman wrote back in an email.

13 comments

  1. Can reporters be held accountable for tampering with justice when they knowingly witness an abuse of power during a trial and not report it to the public, thereby hiding evidence that could have helped defendants or helped changed public opinion ?

    Just this sort of blatant abuse took place during the Philadelphia Traffic Court Trial, under the watchful eyes of the media. All the reporters witnessed the FBI agent on the case lie for the prosecution, he was caught lying by a defense attorney at trial and his actions were referenced in all but one defense attorneys closing arguments, all defense lawyers asked the jury to show as much leniency to their clients as they had shown to the the agent for his lies, and not one reporter mentioned the atrocity to the public.

    Is it acceptable to the media that the prosecution is able to perpetrate a crime right in front of them and not one word is printed of the horrific violations of our trust in our government. Are there two forms of justice, one for the prosecution and one for defendants?

    Is the media accountable when it does not disclosure the abuse after being party to the crime? They are just as guilty as the agent that spoke the words, the media has a duty to serve justice. Just as a teacher or coach or counselor who knows of an abuse of a child, they have a duty to report it. Is the media not held to the same standards ? Witnessing a crime an not reporting it is a criminal act.

    The media reported what the prosecutors wanted them to report,how is this justice, how is hiding an injustice helping our country. In case the media hasn't notice Americas current civil unrest is a direct result of the justice departments treatment of its citizens. No one can turn a blind eye to any injustice.

    Prosecutors try a case in the media long before a defendant steps in to a court room, showing up is all the prosecutors need to do, the jury already knows exactly what the prosecution wanted them to know, the rest is easy for them. Defendants don't stand a chance, thanks in part to the local rag.

    As long as the Inky can sleep at night knowing how many innocent people they send to jail and how many lives are ruined. It reminds me of the famous poem by Pastor Martin Niemoller about the cowardice of the German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power.


    First they came for the Socialist, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Socialist.
    Then they came for the Trade Unionist, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out ---Because I was not a Jew.
    They the came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.


    We need the press to do the right thing, they need to help us defend ourselves, right now they are now employed to prosecute us.

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  2. The way I have it figured out, Seth Williams should get 160 years in jail, one for each thousand dollars he took in gifts, Thomasine Tynes got 23 months for a $ 2,000 dollar bracelet. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander,or should we say his goose is cooked.

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  3. If you developed this opus for a screenplay it would rock all challengers.

    There are so many moving parts to this monumental narrative it could easily generate interest and financing.

    It is pure Mel Brooks content for irony and satire and the screaming populace storming the Halls of Justice has an air of Young Frankenstein.

    Williams is clearly the monster.
    Too bad that Marty Feldman has passed,as Igor, he would be perfect to play Marimow, with the bulging eyes.

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  4. Flowers.Is she not the one who said Williams should not seek a retrial for Lynn just because Williams is catholic, and he should take what he learned in his catholic upbringing and consider the time served by Lynn a moral victory ? Putting aside a possible quilty verdict by another jury and judge all because he is catholic. If that is the case everyone should assume that Ralph Cipriano tells the truth because he was once a practicing catholic.

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  5. Sorry; was never a practicing Catholic.

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    Replies
    1. Baptized in catholic church ?

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    2. To quote a woman who could be the next president of the United States, What difference does it make?

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  6. Ah,yes a heathen.

    No way you were an altar boy.

    Just the qualities Pope Francis admires in the New Catechism.
    Muckraking is not a Church approved vocation in his Facebook WorldView.

    Williams employing pedophiles at his Dairy Queen in the hood
    will be his fate after serving time with rapists and disgraced priests who might occupy his time.

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  7. I walked out of mass for the first time in my life, when the intentions were read they asked for prayers for those that govern us, politicians. When will we have intentions for prosecutors that prosecute us unjustly ?

    Would the congregation be shocked if the intentions read," for all those in the Justice Department that they seek justice, not a fabricated form of justice for their own benefit, for a raise, a promotion or reelection ".

    No one blinks when the requests are for legislators, the media has trashed the character of politicians for years, lets continue to question the integrity of prosecutors and judges. All need to be held to the same standards.

    Too bad politicians take the abuse, they all roll over when the feds speak, its time for them to grow a set and fight back, start with making prosecutors accountable for their lies.

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  8. Rufus will use the Clinton defense...too many shots to the head.

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  9. The most amazing side of the decline of the Pennsylvania Court System has been exposed by the careers of Kane and Williams. Not to overlook the Supreme Court Justices who were forced out of office.

    These two buffoons define why there are too many lawyers practicing who have passed the bar and are why criminals proliferate and the worst examples of how the Law has been undermined.

    For every felon pardoned by Obama a corrupt lawyer should take their place.

    I hope Beasely Jr. will honor his Father and their legacy by underwriting a tome on the failure of the Legal System and being coopted by Lawyers who are professional criminals.

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  10. Seth Williams is a buffoon of a lawyer turned prosecutor as DA. He is not interested in the truth but in what he wants to make it according to his preferences. May 1st, Seth Williams will be unable to prosecute Lynn once the defense attorney files a motion to dismiss the case and a honest judge will grant the motion. Seth knows this very well or he will be indicted before he can prosecute Lynn .

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  11. Ralph don't sugar coat it. Tell us what you really think about the DA and the Inquirer/Daily News.

    ReplyDelete

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