Posted at 5:24 p.m., Friday, February 3, 2006
Rutledge lashes out at judge
Advertiser Staff
Angered by another delay in his long-running federal criminal case, former labor leader Anthony "Tony" Rutledge lashed out this afternoon at U.S. District Judge David Ezra, accusing him of "prejudging" Rutledge and entering into "a conspiracy with the former prosecutor" in the case.Rutledge shook off his lawyers and spoke in an impromptu news conference outside federal court after Ezra delayed until Monday a hearing to accept or reject a plea agreement reached in the case with the government.
The hearing was delayed three times yesterday as Ezra held closed door talks with prosecutors and defense lawyers in the case and finally was rescheduled for Monday morning.
Ezra last year rejected an earlier plea agreement reached by Rutledge and his son, Aaron Rutledge, a codefendant in the criminal case, with prosecutors.
Ezra could not reached for comment today on Rutledge's statement.
There are two former prosecutors involved in the criminal case against the Rutledges, Marshall Silverberg and Edward Groves. Asked which man he was referring to in his conspiracy accusation, Rutledge said, "both of them."
Neither man could be immediately reached for comment this afternoon.
Tony Rutledge's lawyer Jeffrey Rawitz said yesterday that the delays were due to efforts to resolve "many difficult issues."
"It's been a long and difficult case and we hope to reach closure Monday," Rawitz said.
