Some insight into possible reasons for some of the Miami
Family's legal missteps...
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NewsMax.com
newsmax.com
Analysis: Miami Family Lawyer is Throwing Legal Case for Elian
Jack Thompson
Saturday April 29, 2000
NewsMax.com reports that a number of prosecutors and other employees in
the Miami U.S. Attorney's Office are protesting against Janet Reno's forcible
taking of Elian Gonzalez (see "Revolt in Reno's Ranks").
These employees wore black to work this week to register their disgust with
Reno and her illegal raid on the Gonzalez home.
But sources among the these Justice Department dissidents inform
NewsMax.com that members of the group are equally dumbfounded by the
legal actions of the Miami relatives.
One of the assistant U.S. attorneys has now disclosed the following to
NewsMax: "There are a number of us here [Assistant U.S. Attorneys] who don't
understand why Elian's team of lawyers doesn't go to the Eleventh Circuit Court
of Appeals and hammer Reno hard, to make her the issue, to show the three
judges that her raid was illegal and obtained by a false affidavit. It's maybe the
only way to get the boy a fair hearing. Kendall Coffey, who is the head of the
team, who used to be our boss here as the U.S. Attorney, ought to know that is
the only strategy that will work."
But these same sources know why the legal case on behalf of the Miami family
has been bungled: Kendall Coffey.
As reported here weeks ago by this reporter, Coffey has been a very close
associate of Reno for decades.
Coffey had served as a former fund raiser for Reno when she was state
attorney.
Coffey, in an act of political patronage, was then hand-picked by the Attorney
General to be her U.S. Attorney here in Miami.
Coffey then had to resign in disgrace in 1996 when he bought a lapdancer a
magnum of champagne in a notorious striptease club called the Lipstick
Lounge.
Coffey bit the dancer on the rear end, prompting a complaint by the young
woman to the local police.
It later turned out Kendall used a government credit card to pay for his
extravagances as well.
Coffey was brought into the case because members of the Cuban-American
Democracy Movement have close ties to the local Democratic Party and
thought Coffey's close relationship with Reno could help them understand her
while helping smooth the negotiations.
Obviously Coffey did not "understand" Reno and she couldn't care less that he
was representing the Miami family, as her decision to storm the house
demonstrated.
Even if Reno had fired Coffey, their relationship had been too close for too long
to suggest that he would be willing to take her to the mat in a serious legal
match.
That point, made in NewsMax.com weeks ago, was proven accurate by the
very weak legal response the Miami family made in the wake of the outrageous
raid into their home and the seizure of the boy.
Sources among the U.S. Attorney's office are not surprised Kendall is not
taking strong legal actions.
He was not agressive as a U.S. Attorney and nobody thinks he wants to rock
the boat with Reno, the Justice Department or the local Democratic
establishment - because his private law practice still depends on his old
network of contacts.
But the sources are suprised that after the terrible situation Coffey has put them
in that he is still in charge of their legal efforts.
"If he remains in charge, the relatives are doomed. Elian will most certainly be
returned," a source said.
Is Coffey a decaffeinated attorney when it comes to mixing it up with his
longtime friend Reno? So far he has helped put Elian just one step away from
the next flight to Havana.
Jack Thompson is a Miami attorney. He is a frequent commentator on
the Elian Gonzalez case for the Fox News Channel.
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