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“Because these actions violate Mr. Leedy’s rights under the Due Process Clause and constitute prosecutorial misconduct,” wrote attorney Kevin Tierney, “the dismissal of all charges with prejudice is warranted in this instance.”
Tierney wrote in a motion to U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black that Leedy has been seeking discovery of relevant impeachment evidence from the government for more than five months, “Yet, despite a Nov.7, 2016, order from this Court compelling the discovery of this information, the government has refused to provide it.”
Leedy was represented by a federal public defender until Tierney took over the case Sept. 23, according to Tierney’s affidavit filed Nov. 17 with the 17-page motion to dismiss. As of Nov. 23, the government had not responded to Tierney’s motion. A teleconference was scheduled for Nov. 21.
In the affidavit, Tierney said that on Nov. 9, he requested the hand-written notes of the minors, a copy of the video of the minors’ disclosure of abuse to family and the document shown to minors in connection with their forensic interviews.
Tierney said he got two of the three, but not the information shown to the minors that Leedy had a previous conviction for a sex crime against a minor.
The motion included a recap of what Tierney termed the background of the case, which he said began in September 2015 when Leedy sought the help of police because the father of the two boys involved threatened Leedy.
“Before then, Mr. Leedy had been a family friend and had provided various support for the children and their family for over two years,” Tierney wrote. “When Mr. Leedy first met this family, he found the children more or less neglected by their alcoholic parents.”
When Leedy suggested discontinuing the support, Tierney wrote, the children’s father threatened Leedy, who called 911.
“When officers arrived at the scene and diffused the situation, they learned that Mr. Leedy had a prior conviction for a sex offense and was registered as a sex offender,” Tierney wrote.
“Within a few days of this incident, the children’s parents carried out a threat they had been making to Mr. Leedy for some time if he did not do as they wished: they contacted children’s services and had their children report alleged sex abuse by Mr. Leedy.”
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