PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Alexei Wood, one of the arrested protesters who was acquitted at trial, said Kerkhoff Muyskens, “really had absolutely nothing [at trial]. And she just kept going and going and going and going." In court, not a single person was convicted, and dozens of cases were eventually dismissed."
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STORY: "Ex-DC prosecutor facing ethics claims is removed from all cases, denies wrongdoing," by News4 Investigative Reporter Reporter Ted Oberg, Rick Yarborough, and Carlos Olazagasti, published by NBC Washington, on September 6, 2024.
PHOTO CAPTION: "While Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens waits for a D.C. case to proceed, federal court records in Utah show she's withdrawn or been replaced by another attorney in dozens of cases."
GIST: While Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens waits for a D.C. case to proceed, federal court records in Utah show she’s withdrawn or been replaced by another attorney in dozens of cases. News4’s Ted Oberg reports.
In a court filing this week, one-time D.C. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens denied any wrongdoing while prosecuting hundreds of protesters arrested in D.C. during Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
In July, the D.C. Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility alleged Kerkhoff Muyskens hid key video evidence and made false statements about video evidence at least 12 times to judges, defense attorneys and even internal investigators at the Department of Justice.
The D.C. Bar case could result in her losing her law license, but that could take years.
The D.C. ACLU’s Interim Legal Director Michael Perloff called the Kerkhoff Muyskens case “an egregious example of prosecutorial misconduct.”
On Jan. 20, 2017, hundreds of protesters took to D.C.’s streets to protest Trump’s inauguration. D.C. police mass arrested more than 200 people, and many were later indicted on felony rioting charges.
Alexei Wood, one of the arrested protesters who was acquitted at trial, said Kerkhoff Muyskens, “really had absolutely nothing [at trial]. And she just kept going and going and going and going."
In court, not a single person was convicted, and dozens of cases were eventually dismissed.
In her denial filed Monday, Kerkhoff Muyskens, who is now an assistant U.S. attorney in Utah, acknowledged she was the prosecutor in the protest cases but denied any misconduct, paragraph by paragraph.
While she waits for the D.C. case to proceed, federal court records in Utah show she's withdrawn or been replaced by another attorney in dozens of cases that just weeks ago she was prosecuting.
The records don't currently show a single case she's actively working on in Utah.
The bulk of the removals came days after the D.C. ethics case was filed and started the same day the I-Team reached out to the U.S. attorney in Utah. That office is not commenting except to confirm she's an employee.
The News4 I-Team found Utah lawyers are paying attention. At least one asked for a delay in sentencing of their client to review the ethics charges against Kerkhoff Muyskens. A judge granted it.
Attorneys in Utah told the I-Team other delay requests may soon follow.
Kerkhoff Muyskens and an attorney linked to her have not returned the I-Team's repeated requests for comment.
This story was reported by News4 Investigative Reporter Ted Oberg and News4 Investigative Producer Rick Yarborough, and shot by News4 Photojournalist Carlos Olazagasti
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
- SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
