Word has reached editors of AVfM that a plea deal is forthcoming in the case of corrupt Bar Harbor Maine prosecutor Mary Kellett. We are not pleased by this deal and we urge legal authorities in Maine to reject it in favor of a full public airing of the charges against Kellett.
While a guilty plea might bring some small measure of satisfaction to Vladick Filler, we suspect that Kellett’s corruption did not begin and end with his case, and indeed, all of Kellett’s cases, regardless of their outcomes, deserve a full public review, and all the guilty pleas and verdicts obtained during and under Kellett’s tenure as prosecutor should be thrown out.
We understand that, for the legal system in Maine, this would cause an expensive legal nightmare that could drag on for decades. Real justice, however, is not easy or cheap. A corrupt prosecutor can force the innocent to make otherwise unconscionable plea deals. A corrupt prosecutor can obtain faulty and unjust convictions. A lone defendant, facing the awesome power of the state, is in a bad enough situation already without the evil machinations of an evidence-hiding, man-hating ideologue behind the prosecutor’s table.
The legal authorities of Maine have no one to blame except themselves for tolerating Kellett’s antics for so long. The trail of unstable dominos built over the years by Kellett and those in her office need to start falling, and falling hard, on camera and in public, to send a clear message that Justice still matters in a culture that seems increasingly content to blame the innocent for the crimes of others.
Additionally, the people of Maine should demand, as the editors of AVfM do, an additional inquiry into the office of Kellett’s supervisor, District Attorney Carletta Bassano, to determine her degree of complicity in Mary Kellett’s malfeasance. Corruption usually starts at the top, and attempting to shield the District Attorney’s office by cauterizing Kellett’s crimes should be rejected by the people and authorities of Maine.
The world is watching.
[In October of last year JTO madethis impassioned rant and, in response, Suzanne said this:
JtO, thanks for this; it’s perfect.
My suggestion to every person reading this, is to link and/or copy and paste it in an email, or print it as snail mail, and send it to the Maine state legislature.http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hcounty.htm#han
This site has contact information for every member, including home emails, phone numbers, and addresses.
Open it and spend an hour sending emails.
We here at AVfM are asking you to do just that right now. If you’re in Maine, contact your state legislature, if you’re outside of Maine, Hell, do it too.
And if you can get to Portland Maine, give JTO a shout at:
john@avoiceformen.com
We’ve managed to push this rock up to the top of the hill and if we manage just one more ounce of effort, it’ll finally be over the crown and then there’s no stopping it.
Just DO it!–AVfM Editors]
