PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Teri Stoddard
Phone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org
Prosecutorial Misconduct: SAVE Expresses Concern Over Delays in Resolving Charges Against ADA Mary Kellett
WASHINGTON /August 29, 2012 — Following postponement of a scheduled hearing to adjudicate charges against Mary N. Kellett, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is calling on the Maine Board of Overseers to avoid further delays in resolving charges of prosecutorial misconduct by Assistant District Attorney Kellett of Ellsworth.
Kellett’s disciplinary hearing, originally scheduled for August 30-31 in Bangor, has been postponed to a future unknown date.
Victim advocacy group SAVE has identified numerous instances in which Kellett has charged persons for rape, even though the allegations were improbable and the case lacked probable cause. Each false allegation of rape squanders scarce services and protections, and undermines the credibility of future rape victims, SAVE says.
In 2011, SAVE filed a Grievance Complaint with the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar.[1]
The Complaint charged that Kellett had engaged in prosecutorial misconduct against Vladek Filler[2]
and other men in Hancock County.[3]
The Complaint concluded Kellett’s conduct was “dangerous to the even-handed administration of justice” and her acts justify “disbarment – in order to assure the safety and tranquility of the citizens of Maine.”
In response to the SAVE Grievance Complaint, the Board of Overseers of the Bar launched an investigation.
The Board’s report, released on April 6, 2012 charged that Kellett violated nine rules[4] of professional conduct by not providing defense with requested discovery, violating court orders, instructing police officers not to cooperate with defense subpoenas, and making “misrepresentations to the jury of the actual facts.”
Bar Counsel J. Scott Davis concluded Kellett “has acted in a manner unworthy of an attorney” and “should receive such appropriate disciplinary action as is provided for by the Maine Bar Rules.” [5]
The Kellett case has attracted widespread national attention. Texas attorney Robert Franklin has argued that “Kellett’s conduct of her prosecution of Vladek Filler was truly egregious.” [6]
Columnist Carey Roberts opined, “Now in Maine, a man can be…prosecuted for rape with the flimsiest of evidence.”[7]
SAVE spokesperson Michael Thompson says, “According to the ethical code of the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, prosecutors are held to a higher standard because they represent the power of the State. Compared to Michael Nifong, prosecutor in the infamous Duke lacrosse scandal, Mary Kellett engaged in more egregious forms of evidentiary suppression and misrepresentation. For these reasons, she must be disbarred.”
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner violence:www.saveservices.org
[1] http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/COMPLA1.pdf
[2] http://www.saveservices.org/2012/08/pr-one-perjurer-one-unethical-prosecutor-one-wrongful-conviction-save-calls-on-judge-to-vacate-conviction-of-vladek-filler/
[3] http://www.fillerfund.com/index.htm
[4] http://fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=75933:hearing-scheduled-on-complaint-against-assistant-da&Itemid=938
[5] http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/Kellett-Disciplinary-Petition.pdf
[6] http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/2012/07/01/ada-kellett-strikes-out-in-two-more-cases/
[7] http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/roberts/100201