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Lawyer says SOCom is hindering bribery case

By PAUL DE LA GARZA
Published March 11, 2006

TAMPA - The lawyer for a retired Army colonel accused of bribery at Special Operations Command on Friday accused the military of obstructing his defense.

During a hearing in federal court, defense attorney Pat Doherty cited a SOCom e-mail instructing staff members and former staff members not to talk to him without permission and without a Defense Department lawyer present.

"If they want me to get information, I'll get it. If they don't, I won't," Doherty told U.S. District Judge James Whittemore.

Doherty, who represents retired Col. Tom Spellissy, got a sympathetic ear from Whittemore.

"You have to be able to defend your case," he said. "All you want is the truth, right?"

In a statement Friday night, SOCom said current or former employees who are subpoenaed or asked to make a statement must decline and inform the staff judge advocate.

Defense Department "policy is that official information should be made available unless that information is classified, privileged, or otherwise protected from public disclosure."

Requests to interview government witnesses are forwarded to the judge advocate. If the request is granted, a military lawyer sits in. SOCom said the judge advocate has received no requests to set up interviews in the Spellissy case.

The defense says it has contacted several witnesses but not the judge advocate.

The defense contends a conspiracy at the highest levels of SOCom is behind the bribery charges against Spellissy.

SOCom, with headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, oversees the nation's elite commandos.

In an interview after Friday's hearing, Doherty criticized SOCom, saying "they're trying to shut down the investigation."

Doherty told the court he would file a motion to compel witnesses to talk to him in preparation for trial, scheduled May 8.

Doherty has said he planned to call the SOCom commander, Gen. Bryan "Doug" Brown, to testify. Dale Uhler, the command's chief weapons buyer, also is on his witness list.

Before he retired last year, Spellissy helped arm special operations forces as chief of special programs at SOCom. While working as a defense consultant, prosecutors say Spellissy bribed then-SOCom official William Burke to give his clients favorable treatment in contracts.

Burke pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation in January.

In a separate development Friday, Whittemore said he had rejected a motion by Doherty to suppress evidence taken from Spellissy's Clearwater home during a search in April.

Whittemore said the argument "sounded good," but he needed more information. "It just needs a little bit more juice," he said.

Agents indicated Spellissy engaged in illegal activity before he retired Jan. 1, 2005, by working for several defense contractors.

But the motion argued Spellissy effectively left the job in August 2004 by taking terminal leave. He gave up his procurement authority July 30, 2004.

Doherty said he would file a new motion.

The hearing had been scheduled to hear a government motion to move the trial from April to May, which the judge granted.

[Last modified March 11, 2006, 01:42:13]