So, after seven years, the Department of Justice finally rolled over with nary a whimper and agreed to end the absurdly unjust prosecution of former Merrill Lynch banker Robert Furst. As usual, the deal to dismiss all charges against Furst will receive a small fraction of the publicity that the mainstream media trumpeted for his tainted conviction. The deferred prosecution agreement is below.
Although surely a relief, the agreement must be bittersweet for Furst. His business career is badly damaged and has been effectively put on hold for the better part of a decade. And for what purpose?
ThatÃs the question that we should be asking as we get ready for yet another round of the same type of senseless prosecutions than ensnared Furst.
UH Law Professor Geraldine Szott Moohr reminded us this week in the context of Jeff Skilling’s pending Supreme Court appeal of the foreboding nature of the government’s overwhelming prosecutorial power. As Sir Thomas More teaches us, “when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, the laws all being flat? . . . do you really thing you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?”
A truly civil society would find a better way.