Vladek Filler has been ordered to report to jail on October 17, 2012. For anyone not familiar with the details of prosecutor Mary Kellett’s misconduct and pending disciplinary actions in the Vladek Filler case details can be found here.
For the past 1 ½ years, AVfM, SAVE, NCFM, F&F and many others have advocated for justice for Vladek Filler after his now ex-wife Ligia Filler made false spousal rape and assault accusations against him during their divorce and child custody dispute. Vladek won sole custody of his children but was criminally prosecuted for 5 ½ years by ADA Mary N. Kellett and her office. Maine Courts and the Board of Overseers of the Bar concluded that Kellett engaged in prosecutorial misconduct and her public disciplinary hearing will now be held on October 22-23 at the Penobscott Judicial Center in Bangor.
Kellett and her DA office’s misconduct yielded a fraudulent class D misdemeanor assault conviction against Vladek Filler for one allegation that he shoved his wife in 2007. For that conviction, the judge Robert E. Murray sentenced him to 21 days in Mary Kellett’s jail and the Law Court refused to address charges of misconduct in the retrial.
Kellett’s disciplinary hearing was originally scheduled to take place in August and DA Carletta Bassano wrote a letter to the Court demanding a warrant for Vladek Filler’s arrest before he was scheduled to testify at Kellett’s hearing.
In July and August AVFM initiated a campaign to contact Maine officials. SAVE Services issued several press releases calling on Judge Robert E. Murray to vacate Vladek Filler’s fraudulent conviction and for Mary Kellett’sdisbarment at her disciplinary hearing. After suffering injuries in an auto accident in Atlanta, Vladek Filler was granted a 2 month stay of sentence until October 17, but Mary Kellett’s August 31 disciplinary hearing was then unexpectedly cancelled due to what the press called ‘witness availability’ issues. As Vladek Filler was available, it is not clear whether the suddenly unavailable witness became Kellett herself. But she is apparently available now and her hearing has been rescheduled to take place on October 22-23 in Bangor once again coinciding with Vladek Filler’s 21 day detention in Kellett’s jail.
Sadly, it does not stop there. Since Vladek Filler was granted a stay of sentence in August, Kellett’s colleague ADA Paul F. Cavanaugh Jr. took it upon himself to contact Vladek Filler’s healthcare providers in Atlanta apparently to intimidate them in to providing information about Vladek and to accuse Vladek of falsifying medical letters “in an effort to avoid jail.” The part about the jail was key in order to spread fear and suspicion among Vladek’s healthcare providers. Apparently it worked. According to court documents Vladek was immediately denied completion of ordered medical treatment. Kellett’s corrupt DA office has reduced itself to a gang of thugs using the color of law and State power to terrorize and hold key witnesses in their jail.
One wonders what the Board of Overseers is willing to do about Mary Kellett and her office’s unabated corruption. The answer is not clear. AVfM has learned evidence exists which conclusively proves Mary Kellett’s rampant misconduct, withholding of vital facts and evidence and lying to judges and jury members in a ruthless manner that makes Michael Nifong look like a choirboy. The Board of Overseers presumably has evidence that Kellett engaged in very serious misconduct, violated court orders, withheld vital discovery, and ordered numerous police officers to violate defense subpoenas and withhold evidence from Vladek Filler’s attorneys. Just those few charges warrant Mary Kellett’s immediate firing, then disbarment and criminal prosecution.
Yet the signs and continued misconduct coming out of Maine suggests Kellett’s accountability might not be sought to the degree it clearly warrants. Kellett has not even been suspended after the Board of Overseers found back in September 2011 that probable cause exists that Kellett engaged in serious misconduct. In fact, neither Mary Kellett, nor her boss DA Carletta Bassano, nor Kellett’s assistant ADA Paul Cavanaugh Jr. have even blushed as a result of the Board of Overseers disciplinary actions, and the Attorney General’s office is legally representing Kellett instead of criminally prosecuting her.
This past June, just weeks prior to Kellett initially scheduled disciplinary hearing, she prosecuted two more completely innocent men for sex crimes without any probable cause whatsoever. One man was prosecuted for sexual assault for touching his sister in law’s waist which Kellett argued was rape. It took a trial for a judge to finally throw the case out.
When questioned by Bangor Daily News reporter, Kellett was quoted as declaring that so long as her office (meaning she) believes the accuser’s story then that alone is enough to obligate her to criminally prosecute the accused. Any lawyer would say that policy is a clear violation of the law and Bar rules governing prosecutor’s responsibility, code of conduct, and evidentiary requirements for pursuing criminal prosecutions. Yet Kellett, who apparently never met a woman she didn’t believe, openly admits to local newspapers on the eve of her disciplinary hearing that she engages in what is clearly harassment and civil rights abuse of men. Attorney Robert Franklin analyzed Kellett’s June 2012 misconduct in his article titled “ADA Kellett Strikes Out in Two More Cases.”
The question remains what will the Board of Overseers do about a corrupt prosecutor and a DA office that is so out of control that they openly without fear of recourse corrupt the justice system, local law enforcement, and openly lie in Maine Courts to punish innocent men like Vladek Filler. Who is going to stop their crime spree and hold them to any meaningful account? If the Board of Overseers cannot even remove the likes of Mary Kellett from her prosecutorial throne, then it is clear that Maine is simply not capable of enforcing its own rules to protect the public from corrupt and abusive officials.
Now comes Vladek Filler, a man who after two criminal trials and two appeals still refuses to give up his fight. He has now filed for appointment of counsel for a post conviction motion to vacate his fraudulent conviction and for another stay of sentence so Vladek can complete his denied medical treatment. Now some of you might imagine that DA Carletta Bassano’s office would not object to allowing a man they know is innocent to continue to remain free on his $50k bail to get medical treatment for a few extra weeks, but you would be completely wrong. No need to take my word for it, now comes Kellett’s assistant ADA Paul Cavanaugh Jr. to make it blatantly clear why Kellett’s office is objecting to Vladek Filler’s motion for stay of sentence. The objection states:
[Vladek Filler] has been heavily involved in the bar complaint against ADA Kellett. Her hearing is scheduled for the end of October. Will [he] be well enough to travel to attend the multiple day hearing in Bangor? If so, he is well enough to meet his obligation for this sentence.
The objection does not really center on whether Vladek Filler is “well enough” to be denied medical treatment but instead it centers Vladek being “heavily involved in the bar complaint against ADA Kellett” and asking whether he will in fact appear to testify against her, and “if so” then the DA office is objecting to his stay for medical treatment. You cannot make this stuff up.
It is another arrogant admission by a DA office that is seeking to punish and retaliate against their victim for filing a complaint and appearing to give testimony against a corrupt prosecutor. If any private law firm engaged in such intimidation of a witness there would be criminal charges, but DA Carletta Bassano’s office flaunts its unaccountability. So what will the Hancock County Court, the Board of Overseers, and the Attorney General’s office do about the malicious prosecution, false conviction, and political imprisonment of Vladek Filler?
This man has been deprived of due process and a fair trial for 5 ½ years and prevented from presenting clear evidence of fraud and misconduct committed against him. If his motion for stay is denied he will be taken and remain in custody as a political prisoner during Kellett’s disciplinary hearing without any contact with the outside world for 21 days. He will certainly not be able to speak to reporters or anyone else about how he is being treated in Kellett’s jail.
As it stands, Kellett’s disciplinary hearing will be held on October 22-23, 2012 at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor Maine. These historic proceeding against a sitting prosecutor are a first in the State of Maine and will be open to the public and the media. Select instances of misconduct chosen from Filler’s disturbing Bar complaint will be presented by Bar Counsel J. Scott Davis. Prosecutor Mary Kellett will be represented by assistant attorney general Ronald W. Lupton.
The hearing will be presided over by a 3 member panel that will decide whether Kellett’s lying, withholding of evidence, violation of court orders, and ordering police officers to withhold evidence rises to the level for her to be disbarred. AVfM has managed to identify the 3 panel members as M. Ray Bradford, Jr., Esq, Sarah McPartland-Good Esq, and Norman A. Ross. These panel members apparently live or practice law in the greater Bangor and Ellsworth area and according to the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar’s website Kellett’s boss DA Carletta Bassano also sits on the same Grievance Commission with all 3 of these panel members that will decide Kellett’s fate.
The crimes and civil rights abuse of DA Carletta Bassano’s office has caused corruption of the justice system and abuse of countless men and families. It is time for that crime syndicate to be held to account and put out of business.
AVfM is calling on 3 immediate actions to be taken on behalf of Vladek Filler and justice in Maine.
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- We are asking supporters to call on the Hancock County Court to free Vladek Filler and vacate his conviction on post-conviction review. The contact info is Hancock County Superior Court, 50 State Street, Ellsworth, Maine 04605 Phone: 207-667-7176 then press “0”.
- Call on the Board of Overseers of the Bar and the 3 member Grievance Panel to hold prosecutor Mary Kellett accountable by recommending her disbarment. Grievance Panel Members: Chair M. Ray Bradford, Jr., Esq, Sarah McPartland-Good Esq and Norman A. Ross. Contact info: Board of Overseers of the Bar, 97 Winthrop Street, P. O. Box 527 Augusta, Maine 04332-0527. Phone: 207-623-1121 Fax: 207-623-4175 E-mail: board@mebaroverseers.org
- Anyone in Maine or with the ability to travel there who is sick and tired of the abuse and corruption that this now infamous prosecutor and her DA office has unleashed on men and boys is urged to attend this historic disciplinary hearing in Bangor Maine on October 22-23. Come to show your support for justice, bring signs and statistics and camcorders to witness and document the proceedings for the whole world to see how a prosecutor who lies and abuses her community is dealt with by Maine Courts, the Board of Overseers, and by the Attorney General’s office. It is important to show support for Vladek Filler and his 5 ½ year battle with one of the most man hating and corrupt prosecutors in the US.
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Penobscot Judicial Center
78 Exchange Street,
Bangor, ME 04401-4913
Phone: 207-561-2325
