http://www.politico.com/news/2...a-deal-forgery-511912

>>Hodgkins was charged with felony obstruction of Congress for breaching the Capitol and making his way to the floor of the Senate, where images show him donning gloves and rifling through some papers left in the evacuated room. He pleaded guilty to the charge in June, while being represented by attorney Patrick Leduc, a JAG Reserve officer who later deployed to Qatar, where he is assisting with Afghan refugee rescue operations.


Moss sentenced Hodgkins in July to an eight-month jail term, far below the government's recommended 16-month sentence, an acknowledgment that Hodgkins was among the first to accept responsibility for his role in the breach. But Hodgkins' new claim puts the matter into turmoil.

Hodgkins had asked Moss to delay his jail sentence, which is set to begin on Sept. 20, until January, giving him time to mount his effort to unwind the plea agreement. But Moss rejected that attempt Wednesday afternoon, saying Hodgkins "has not demonstrated good cause for the requested four-month delay."

His new attorney, Carolyn Stewart, made the forgery allegation during a hearing called by Moss to address Hodgkins' claim that Leduc provided ineffective counsel. She said she retained handwriting expert Curt Baggett to review the document and confirmed that it was not Hodgkins' signature on the agreement. Baggett, she said, would be willing to testify to it in court.

Stewart suggested that the allegedly forged signature was one of many irregularities tainting the case.

"It's mind boggling," the defense attorney said, mentioning that she is attuned to such patterns because of her work as an intelligence analyst in Afghanistan. "These kinds of things keep popping up ... I'm floored."


LeDuc said in an email to POLITICO that the claim of a forged signature was "insane" and that he painstakingly reviewed the deal with Hodgkins.<<

This is why a first year attorney with no experience in federal court should not be jumping into a case for political reasons. She and her client have alleged that the signature on his plea is forged, they paid a handwriting expert to conclude that its not the defendant's signature and they believe that by withdrawing the plea, they will be able to get a better deal.

They could not be more wrong. THey have accused the previous attorney of forgery, he is an active member of the military and JAG advocate. The plea was made in open Court and those written pleas are a backup. The actual plea is when the Judge goes over the facts, the terms and conditions and his rights waiver in line by line detail. All of this, of course, is under oath, that same oath he swore when he filed his motion to withdraw the plea. His lawyer will be, in the very least, disciplined, referred to the bar and possibly charged for suborning perjury. THe Defendant will be in the very least threatened with perjury charges and probably end up testifying that the whole thing was the newer lawyer's idea and he just went along with it. This is no place to throw shit at the walls and see what sticks. Soon they will go from up shit's creek to shit out of luck.




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