Mediaboss Marketing

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The otherwise low-key trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo saw some drama Wednesday, the third day of testimony, when a fellow police officer refused to testify.

Prosecutors got through just a couple basic questions about the identity and work history of Cleveland police officer Michael Demchak beforeDemchak invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on the witness stand.

According to a report from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Demchak was one of 13 officers that fired their guns one night in November 2012, when two unarmed suspects were killed. Investigators concluded Demchak fired his gun four times.

Brelo, 31, is on trial for the murder ofTimothy Russell and Malissa Williams, who were shot to death by police in a 1979 Chevy Malibu. Russell, the driver, had evaded police during a 22-minute car chase through Cleveland and East Cleveland on Nov. 29, 2012.

Demchak told the court he invoked his right based on the advice of his attorney and would not testify unless he is granted immunity by the prosecutor's office.

Prosecutors had filed motions before the start of the trial opposing police officers who may invoke the Fifth Amendment. And they were quick to voice their opposition in court as well.

"We don't believe police officers should be granted immunity for testifying," assistant prosecuting attorney Adam Chaloupka told the court. Chaloupka said police officers should trust the Prosecutor's Office to not to charge them for testimony given during the trial.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty, who has been present but silent at the proceedings until Wednesday, told the court that as a matter of public policy police officers should be required to testify without being able to demand immunity.

"It won't end with this," McGinty told the court. "I am reluctant to start doing it here and now for fear of the future result."

McGinty also told the court that police officers knew one of their fellow officers did something wrong that night, but refused to come forward with that information to investigators.

Read more here:
Cleveland police officer refuses to testify during trial of fellow officer Michael Brelo (video)

The Justice Department has declined to pursue contempt of Congress charges against Lois Lerner for refusing to testify about her role at the IRS in the targeting of conservative groups.

The department announced the decision in a letter Tuesday to House Speaker John Boehner, whose Republican-controlled chamber made the request to prosecute, after holding Lerner in contempt for refusing to testify at committee hearings.

"Once again, the Obama administration has tried to sweep IRS targeting of taxpayers for their political beliefs under the rug, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told FoxNews.com.

Lerner asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege, which allows people to not testify against themselves, during a May 2013 hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and then again at a March 2014 hearing.

However, House Republicans argued Lerner waived the privilege with an opening statement she made before the committee in the May 2013 appearance. All the chambers Republican members and six Democrats officially voted in May 2014 to hold Lerner in contempt.

Ron Machen Jr., the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in the seven-page letter that federal prosecutors concluded Lerner did not waive her privilege because she made only general claims of innocence during the opening statement.

Thus, the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution would provide Ms. Lerner with an absolute defense should be prosecuted for her refusal to testify, wrote Machen, who was appointed to the U.S. attorney post by President Obama and left for private practice Wednesday, one day after sending the letter.

He also said he will not refer the case to a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute.

Lerner ran the IRSs exempt organizations unit when Tea Party and other nonprofit groups with conservative names applying for tax-exempt status were targeted for additional auditing from April 2010 to April 2012.

She was placed on administrative leave in May 2013 and retired four months later.

Read the original:
Feds won't pursue contempt charges against Lerner for not testifying before House - VIDEO: DOJ: No contempt charges ...

Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner exercises her Fifth Amendment right not to speak about the IRS targeting investigation before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building March 5, 2014 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia will not seek contempt charges against former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner for her refusal to testify before Congress, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced Wednesday.

It has been nearly a year since the House voted to hold Lerner in contempt in a mostly party-line vote. At the time, the charges were referred to the local U.S. attorney. The Justice Department officially informed House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, of U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen's decision in a letter sent to Boehner's office Tuesday.

Play Video

Insisting that she's "done nothing wrong," Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of the division that targeted conservative nonprofit groups fo...

"A team of experienced career prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office was assigned to carefully assess the referral. After extensive analysis, the team concluded that the House Committee followed proper procedures in notifying Ms. Lerner that it had rejected her claim of a Fifth Amendment privilege and gave her an adequate opportunity to answer the Committee's questions," the Justice Department said in a statement. "However, the team also concluded that Ms. Lerner did not waive her Fifth Amendment privilege by making general claims of innocence. The Constitution would provide Ms. Lerner with an absolute defense if she were prosecuted for contempt."

Congress' contempt vote stems from Lerner's appearances before the House Oversight Committee. At the start of one hearing in 2013, Lerner made an opening statement declaring her innocence before invoking her Fifth Amendment right. Republicans charge that by delivering her opening statement, she waived her rights against self-incrimination. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and then the full House of Representatives, voted to hold Lerner in contempt for her refusal to testify on March 5, 2014.

2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

See the original post:
DOJ: No contempt charges against Lois Lerner

Updated at 4:33 p.m. ET

The Justice Department will not pursue criminal contempt charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner, who was at the center of a political storm over the agency's alleged targeting of conservative groups. The announcement came from Ronald Machen, the outgoing U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, to House Speaker John Boehner. (The letter is embedded at the bottom of this story.)

Here's the background: Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment rights and refused to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March 2014. But Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who headed that panel, said at the time that Lerner had waived that right by making an opening statement at a May 2013 hearing in which she proclaimed her innocence in short opening remarks.

The House voted later in 2014 to hold Lerner in criminal contempt. Machen's office was examining the case and, in the letter dated March 31, he disagreed with Issa's interpretation.

"Ms. Lerner did not waive her Fifth Amendment privilege by making general claims of innocence," his office said in a statement. "The Constitution would provide Ms. Lerner with an absolute defense if she were prosecuted for contempt."

Wednesday's announcement grants a reprieve to the former IRS official, who at the time of the controversy led the agency's division that oversees tax-exempt groups. William Taylor, her attorney, said in a statement: "We are gratified but not surprised by today's news."

But as Politico notes, she and other officials from the Internal Revenue Service are still under investigation by the FBI for the IRS' targeting of conservative groups.

As NPR's Mark Memmott reported at the time: "[A] report ... concluded some conservative groups had been 'deliberately targeted.' (Democrats have released IRS documents showing liberal groups also came in for extra scrutiny.) A political furor erupted, eventually leading to the resignation of the agency's acting director. Lerner retired from the agency later in the year."

You can read the letter in full here:

Follow this link:
Justice Department Won't Charge IRS' Lois Lerner With Criminal Contempt

Ex-Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, a central figure in the IRStargeting scandal, will not face criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify about the matter before a House oversight committee last year.

Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a letter this week to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that he would not bring a criminal case against Lerner, who headed the IRSs exempt-organizations division when the agency inappropriately selected nonprofit advocacy groups for extra scrutiny based on their names and policy positions.

The former officialacknowledged the agencys mistakes at a legal conference in May 2013, days beforethe release of a scathing inspector generals report about the issue.

[Related: Investigators probing for criminal activity with Lois Lerners missing e-mails]

The House approved a contempt resolutionagainst Lernerin May 2014, after she invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify during a hearing with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The panels then-chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), insisted that shewaived the right by asserting her innocence during an opening statement.

Machen disagreed with Issa, saying Lerner made only general claimsof innocence and that the Constitution would provide her withan absolute defense should she be prosecuted.

Lerners attorney, William Taylor III, applauded the decision in a statement Wednesday. Anyone who takes a serious and impartial look at this issue would conclude that Ms. Lerner did not waive her Fifth Amendment rights, he said. It is unfortunate that the majority party in the House put politics before a citizens constitutional rights. Ms. Lerner is pleased to have this matter resolved and looks forward to moving on with her life.

Boehners office criticized the decision and called on the White House to appoint a special counsel to review the IRSs actions.

Once again, the Obama administration has tried to sweep IRS targeting of taxpayers for their political beliefs under the rug, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement on Wednesday. But unaccountable federal bureaucrats using their power to attack the First Amendment strikes at the heart of our democracy, and the American people deserve the truth.

Aside from the contempt issue, the Justice Department has beeninvestigating the IRS for possible criminal activities related to the targeting matter since May 2013, when Attorney General Eric Holder ordered the probe. On Wednesday, the agency said it is working to complete the review as expeditiously as possible.

Originally posted here:
Federal Eye: Justice Department will not seek contempt charges against Lois Lerner