Subject:  Prosecutor ends probe - findings will be revealed today |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 01/14/06 12:23pm
Findings in Fieger case to be revealed today
Prosecutor ends campaign probe
January 14, 2006
BY DAWSON BELL, JOE SWICKARD and JENNIFER DIXON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Geoffrey Fieger has acknowledged paying for ads to unseat a state Supreme Court justice but says he broke no laws.
A special prosecutor investigating multimillionaire Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger's campaign to unseat a state Supreme Court justice will announce his findings at noon today in Lansing, just 3 1/2 weeks after taking the case and with key evidence unavailable to him.
The prosecutor, Patrick Shannon, issued a terse news release late Friday about the announcement and was not immediately available for comment.
Fieger lawyer Richard Steinberg said he was "cautiously hopeful" that Shannon had been persuaded by the evidence his legal team presented that Fieger had not committed any crime.
Fieger still is under investigation by a federal grand jury for his fund-raising on behalf of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
Citing the speed of Shannon's announcement and the lack of resolution on key legal issues, a former state and federal prosecutor said it "sounds like they're throwing in the towel."
The special prosecutor was ordered by a judge to return Fieger's tax records that investigators had seized from his accountant. Those records were potentially crucial. That was one of several legal issues on appeal and unresolved.
Speaking on condition that he not be named because of the still-pending cases, the former prosecutor said going after Fieger with his impressive legal team means "a battle to the bitter end. And that's not a fight you seek unless all your powder's dry and you have all the ammunition you want."
Shannon was appointed Dec. 19 by state Attorney General Mike Cox, who said it would be improper for him to continue leading an investigation after he publicly accused Fieger of attempting to block it by revealing an extramarital affair in Cox's past.
Cox spokesman Rusty Hills said he would reserve comment until after Shannon's announcement.
The investigation started early last year, examining whether Fieger's undisclosed $460,000 expense for campaign ads to defeat Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman violated state campaign laws.
Fieger later acknowledged he paid for the ads but said he had broken no laws.
Fieger is a plaintiff's lawyer and longtime critic of the Republican majority on the state Supreme Court.
Shannon is a former Chippewa County prosecutor.
Contact DAWSON BELL at 313-222-6604 or dbell@freepress.com.
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