A new legal team for Lance Armstrong, who is under investigation by a federal grand jury for allegations of organized doping, is going on the offensive against his pursuers, charging in a court filing that the cycling champion has been the victim of “character assassination” through leaks and pointing the finger at government investigator Jeff Novitzky.
The lawyers, led by John W. Keker of San Francisco, contend that leaks about Armstrong - which have fed damaging stories by “60 Minutes,” Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press - had “the obvious intent of legitimizing the government’s investigation of a national hero, best known for his role in the fight against cancer." [...]
In the earlier probe, federal district court judge criticized investigators’ “callous disregard for Constitutional rights.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in an appeal handled by Keker, found “an obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government.”
The Armstrong motion says: “[T]he leading government advocate for the Armstrong investigation, Novitzky, was recently connected to an investigation riddled with leaks to the same reporters involved in this case, and has a documented history of over-reaching and disregarding individual’s [sic] privacy rights. …
“A grand jury is not a vehicle to facilitate government-sponsored campaigns of character assassination. … Someone … with regular access to grand jury information is routinely flouting the law requiring grand jury secrecy. … Over the past year, purported details of a grand jury investigation relating to Armstrong and professional cycling races in Europe have been deliberately leaked to the media on dozens of occasions … The leaks have rendered what should have been a closed investigation into a field day for reporters with access to the leaks, and an easy forum for whoever seeks to damage Armstrong’s reputation. …
“They guarantee that even if exonerated and never charged, Armstrong’s reputation will have been severely damaged. … Armstrong requests the Court to issue an order to show cause to the government requiring each government agent involved in this investigation to show why he or she should not be held in contempt for violating Rule 6(e)” on grand jury secrecy. [...]
“While Armstrong has received assurances that the Assistant United States Attorneys involved in the case are not the source of the leaks, it is clear that someone within the government is responsible. There is no other reasonable explanation,” the lawyers assert.
“The media has rendered the grand jury’s investigation an open book, reporting on the identities of targets and witnesses, the substance of witnesses’ testimony, the strategy and direction of the investigation, the potential charges being considered by the government, the timing of a potential indictment, and the contents of documents.” [...]
“nless something is done, these leaks, and the harm caused thereby, will continue, and most likely, intensify,” the brief says. “Each leak has revealed information damaging to Armstrong’s reputation, and has been carefully calculated to drum up publicity and cultivate public support to an investigation that is, to say the least, questionable in both its motive and its merits.
“In many ways, the leaks have served as a public relations campaign focused on portraying Armstrong as having violated cycling rules during European competitions, and trying to justify why the government should pursue a criminal investigation into that alleged conduct.”
