Alabama’s Mike Nifong
I first posted about him here. Today, the Decatur Daily has an update.
In a nut shell, back in 2005, Assistant Attorney General Don Valeska – the chief of Troy King’s violent crimes division – knowingly hid favorable evidence from the defense and then lied about it to the court. When the truth was revealed, the judge responded by dismissing the state’s case. Alacrap reversed that action, but still granted the defendant a new trial.
So now Valeska is whining that the judge is biased. Right. Here’s some of the judge’s response:
“He can lie to me personally all he wants, but I will not allow him to lie to the court,” [Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn] Thompson stated in a response he filed with the state Court of Criminal Appeals.
Thompson explained.
“Throughout the trial of the case, the defense counsel repeatedly requested that they be given access to material collected by the Decatur Police Department and submitted to the FBI, as well as any information provided by the FBI to the Decatur Police Department. Knowing full well that his representations to the Circuit Court of Morgan County were untrue, Mr. Valeska repeatedly represented that no such material existed,” Thompson’s response states. . . .
The judge explained his position on dismissing the capital murder charges against Moore.
“This court found that the actions of Assistant Attorney General Valeska representing the state of Alabama were so egregious that the only appropriate remedy under the law and the facts was to dismiss the charges pending against the defendant.” . . .
Also, Thompson commented on Valeska’s courtroom behavior.
“He refused to turn off his cell phone and after warning, allowed his cell phone to ring in court repeatedly,” Thompson stated. “It is my recollection, although I am not certain of the exact number, that on at least six occasions Mr. Valeska’s cell phone rang in open court. This court refrained from finding him in contempt although after each session he was repeatedly warned not to allow his cell phone to ring in court.”
Thompson further stated in his response that Valeska would be treated fairly in his courtroom during Moore’s second trial.
“I can assure the Court of Criminal Appeals that Mr. Valeska, if he appears for the re-trial of Mr. Moore, has nothing to fear from this court so long as he tells the whole truth without parsing words and turns off his cell phone,” Thompson stated. “Not only will the state of Alabama get a fair trial but the defendant will also get a fair trial.”
Biased? Only against attorneys so confident in the righteousness of their position that they think they can lie, cheat, or steal in order to win a case.
Explore posts in the same categories: Capital Punishment, Corrupt Politicians, Trials, Troy King
The Alablawg 
May 8, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Them be harsh words spoken by de judge, whether it be ot a prosecutor or a defense lawyer
May 8, 2007 at 4:15 pm
in a brief to an appellate court no less. he didn’t just spout off in court, that would be remarkable enough, instead he took the time to consider and type his words.
May 8, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Check out the case of Grady Gibson as well. Valeska did the exact same thing in that case. The case was from way back in the 80’s and just now made it through state court to federal for the habeas petition. (The trial judge didn’t rule ont he Rule 32 petition for 10 years)
Valeska was one of the prosecuting attorneys from the AG’s office and withheld evidence that had been collected by the ABI (Gibson was a former ABI agent).
I don’t get why an attorney like Valeska would do such a thing but I see it over and over in murder cases.
I’ve seen one DA’s office strike every single black juror when the case was a slam dunk…. why risk the case being overturned on appeal? My theory is to get the death penalty… but it still seems like the stupidest move. Why risk giving the defendant an argument on appeal?
May 8, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Why am I not surprised that he’d pull something like that?
May 8, 2007 at 8:59 pm
This Judge doesn’t sound biased at all, I can’t imagine why the prosecution is complaining. He calls the prosecutor a liar and repeatedly comments on the State’s evidence prior to entering an illegal order dismissing the charges against a vicious murderer and putting him on the street to kill again because he is miffed when he feels like the prosecution didn’t tell him the truth.
His order turning the killer loose is so patently illegal that it is overturned in the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. You of all people, Wheeler, know how difficult it is to get a trial court overturned for an abuse of discretion.
I know you are oriented towards the rights of the Defendant, but try to think about it from the Victim’s perspective; would you want this Judge hearing the case if someone had raped and murdered your wife, stabbed her 40+ times and cut her throat, leaving her body in your home where you were raising your children together?
A Judge cannot sit on a case if there is an appearance that he is biased. This Judge has not only ruled that he doesn’t believe the State, he has already ruled, gratuitously, that he doesn’t believe any of the State’s evidence, including the Defendant’s confession and DNA evidence proving that the D was at the scene when the Victim was murdered.
February 21, 2010 at 5:04 pm
You are fucking retarded
May 8, 2007 at 10:33 pm
So does anyone know if Troy King has even written a bad memo to Valeska? Is he a career guy or a stooge?
May 9, 2007 at 9:19 am
Valeska is a career guy. My understanding is that King in general does not want his office handling initial prosecutions (unless they give him a lot of good press)
May 9, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Truman, which is more important? To put the person who committed the crime in jail for this horrible crime, or just to get someone, not necessarily the right someone, in jail (or on Death Row) to pay for what someone else may have done?
If your answer is the latter, then I can understand why you would be outraged that a judge would throw out the results of a trial, once he discovered that misconduct by the prosecutors had ensured that that trial was not the fair trial an American citizen should be entitled to.
May 11, 2007 at 8:44 pm
The ACCA ordered Judge Thompson to recuse today based on his bias against the State. I don’t guess wheeler will post an entry on this though.
http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-28/117891441934860.xml&storylist=alabamanews
May 26, 2007 at 12:50 am
As someone who was intimately involved with the Grady Gibson case ,I’d like to say Don Valeska has hidden evidence on many cases throughout his career. Lied and cheated and convicted innocent people.The Decataur Times did a story on him called ” Don Valeska:Hiding the Ball”. He is a crooked and trecherous individual not worthy of calling himself a Prosecutor. My hope is he will be disbarred and jailed for the crimes he has committed.
May 8, 2008 at 7:15 pm
i guess you have to know someone or have to be someone else because this judge let the prosecutor put a picture in our evidence of something that was not ours and he said that it was ok when our attoney said some thing about it .
so who do you have to be or what else do you have to be . the last i read their is no bond on murder.
February 12, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Don Valeska and Don sigleman wanted Grady Gibson covicted because Grady busted some of Siglemans friends in mobile.The truth will come out. and i hope sigleman goes back to prison because he is corrupt.