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Series about law, its inconsistencies, idiosyncrasies, absurdities as evidences by real clients, real cases, real evidence, real facts, and real law. Two New York lawyers using examples from cases and their own experience to demonstrate law's shortcomings.
Welcome to behind the blindfold, a podcast featuring your hosts, Romeo Salta and Scott Fenstermaker, New York lawyers with over 75 years of experience between them. Using personal experience and that of their guests as well as your audience contributions, Romeo and Scott will explore the not uncommon inconsistencies, fabrications, falsifications, half truths, slight of hand, and distortions that one encounters when practicing law. Using real anecdotes from their decades of experience supported with evidence, documents, witness testimony, correspondence, court filings, and similar support, Romeo and Scott will raise the curtain on the aspects of the practice of law that understandably lead to skepticism from you, the listening public. Scott, who's a graduate of Harvard Law School and the United States Air Force Academy, spent years litigating military commissions matters at Guantanamo Bay and related federal court habeas matters and has additional consistent experience in the federal and state courts in the United States, will provide insider accounts of the court findings that cannot be reconciled with either the facts or the law. Romeo, who has practiced in the state and federal courts in New York for over 4 decades, will share his broad and deep experience handling civil and criminal litigation in the courts.
Intro Talent:Together, they will also bring you guests who can share similar firsthand personal experience in the courts. If you would like to participate as a guest or a contributing audience member in behind the blindfold, you should reach out to us at Scott at behind the blindfold.net. Scott can also be reached at 917-817-9001. Your communications will be kept confidential unless and until you authorize your host to make your experience public through a published podcast episode. So sit back, relax, and prepare to travel behind the blindfold.
Romeo Salta:How are you?
Scott Fenstermaker:I'm doing fine, Romeo. How are you?
Romeo Salta:Okay. Okay. Well, we have another, episode to discuss. This one involves an attorney against whom, a criminal complaint was lodged because he threatened, well, I'm not using the word threatened. I think that was used by the district attorney.
Romeo Salta:He, said, to an assistant district attorney that he was gonna go to the press with regard to a case he was working on.
Scott Fenstermaker:That's correct. And and what ended up happening is that the district attorney the elected district attorney made a complaint, a criminal complaint, and open had an investigation opened up into the alleged criminal conduct of the attorney based upon the claims that he was interfering improperly with the prosecution by threatening to go to the press. And just to set just to set the stage here, this took place in Maine. The way that elect district attorneys are elected in Maine is they are elected by district. Maine has 8 different prosecutorial districts.
Scott Fenstermaker:3 of those prosecutorial districts are 1 county and 1 county alone. The other 5 prosecutorial districts are 2 or more counties, and the district attorney in question in this case was the district attorney for prosecutorial district 7, which is Hancock and Washington Counties in Maine, which are the 2 easternmost counties on the coast of Maine.
Romeo Salta:Well, what what what are some of the details of this case? What what exactly did this attorney do, to cause the, district attorney to file a criminal complaint?
Scott Fenstermaker:Well, I think what we're going to do, so that we don't speculate on what the facts were is that we are going to read the transcript of a proceeding in which both the district attorney and the defense attorney testified under oath. And the the district attorney's name was Matt Foster, and the defense attorney's name was John Steed. Both Matt Foster and John Steed testified under oath. So rather than me summarizing what happened, I think it's best if we just read the test the sworn testimony of the 2 witnesses, regarding what happened. And I think what we're gonna do is we're gonna read Matt Foster's testimony first.
Romeo Salta:Okay. That's a good idea. And by the way, both of these gentlemen were invited to, participate in this podcast. Is that correct?
Scott Fenstermaker:Oh, yes. Thank you very much. Yes. I sent letters to both mister Foster and mister Steed by certified mail inviting them to be interviewed on this podcast regarding what happened. I sent them letters, like I said, by certified mail.
Scott Fenstermaker:I I received the receipts back, which indicated that they had received the letters, and I have not heard back from them. And that was, well over a month ago that I sent the letters to them.
Romeo Salta:Well, let's get to it then.
Scott Fenstermaker:So we're gonna start with, Matt Foster's testimony, his initial testimony where he acknowledges having been an elected, the elected district attorney, and I'm gonna read the questions as they were asked of him during the hearing, and you are going to, give his answers as he gave them at the hearing.
Romeo Salta:And to reiterate, we're reading right off the transcript. Correct?
Scott Fenstermaker:Exactly. We have we have the, certified transcripts from the proceeding where mister Foster testified as well as, the certified transcript where mister Steed testify. So mister Foster was asked the following question. What was that elective office?
Romeo Salta:Answer, district attorney.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, okay. And what time period did you hold the office of district attorney?
Romeo Salta:Answer, January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2022.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Okay. And as the elected district attorney, were you responsible for the operations and conduct of the office during that period of time?
Romeo Salta:Answer, yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:So that establishes under oath that mister Foster was the elected district attorney during that period of time. And now what we're gonna do is we're gonna go to, the actual testimony regarding what happened.
Romeo Salta:Okay.
Scott Fenstermaker:The the question was asked of mister Foster. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Now during your period of time as the district attorney, did you have any interaction with the defense attorney by the name of John Steed?
Romeo Salta:Answer, yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, okay. During your period of interactions with defense attorney John Steed, did you ever ask any personnel from the Ellsworth Police Department to investigate criminal conduct that you believed that he and was engaged in?
Romeo Salta:Answer, yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, okay. Can you please briefly describe for the court what request you made and why? Answer,
Romeo Salta:if I recall correctly, he made a comment in an email to attorney Reger that he was going to go to the press about a case. And upon my review of the statute, the statute number, I don't recall off the top of my head right now, but it made it a crime not to report an attempt to influence a public official in their duties. The nature of the email was, if you don't dismiss this case or if you don't do something, I'm gonna go to the press. And I took that to be a statement that was attempting to influence a public official. And so according to the statute or pursuant to the statute, I reported it to the Ellsworth Police, and then I asked the district 5 district attorney's office to take over prosecution of the case if it came to that.
Romeo Salta:And I had no further involvement after that.
Scott Fenstermaker:Then mister Foster was asked the question, okay, but you did initiate some sort of criminal investigation regarding that, what you perceive to be a threat?
Romeo Salta:Answer, I made a police report. Yes. Okay. I didn't institute any time of prosecution because I believed I had a conflict because mister Steed was a practice or is a practicing defense attorney in that district.
Scott Fenstermaker:Then mister Foster was asked the question, okay. So you felt that it so was the conflict as a result of the fact that you were the victim or the result of the fact that he was a practicing defense attorney in that district?
Romeo Salta:Answer, I didn't consider myself to be the victim of a case. I felt there was a statutory necessity that the report be made and that because I was the one making the report, that my office wouldn't be able to handle prosecution if it was warranted. So that's why I referred it to Chris Almy in Bangor.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Alright. So did it have to do with the fact that the allegations contained allegations question. I the reason I asked
Romeo Salta:for the district 5 DA's office to take care of it was because I was the one making the report, and I didn't think that it would be appropriate for my office to prosecute a case where I was the complaining witness.
Scott Fenstermaker:And that's the end of mister Foster's testimony with respect to that issue. Now what we're going to do is we're gonna go to mister Steed's testimony regarding the same incident, And we're gonna do this the same way that we did this last time. I'm going to read the questions from the transcript, and you, Rameo, are going to read the answers. Starting on page 173 at line 15, Question, mister Steed, can you please state your current occupation?
Romeo Salta:Answer, I'm a lawyer in Maine.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, okay. And now and how long have you been admitted to practice law in Maine?
Romeo Salta:Answer, I think since 2015, around then so.
Scott Fenstermaker:Then there was some testimony of unrelated matters, to this podcast. And now we're going to page 182, line 19. Question. Okay. Alright.
Scott Fenstermaker:Going to a different subject. Again, how long did you practice criminal defense law in prosecutorial district 7?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I mean, it was one of the first things I ever so I mean, from 2015 until the present.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. So 8 or 9 years?
Romeo Salta:Answer. Yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Okay. Did there come a time during your tenure as a defense attorney in prosecutorial district 7 where the prosecutors from prosecutorial district 7 opened up a criminal investigation into you?
Romeo Salta:Answer, yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, can you please describe the nature of the circumstances to the court?
Romeo Salta:Answer, Well, so I had a domestic violence assault case privately retained.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. I'm sorry. When you say that you had a domestic violence case, you weren't the defendant. Correct?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I wasn't the defendant. I was hired by someone who was charged with domestic violence assault.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Okay. And and then there was a interaction between the witness and the court. And the witness said
Romeo Salta:It's all resolved. There was a bar complaint. It's been dismissed with no but completely. And there was no criminal charge ever brought. And I don't think there would or could be.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. So there was never a criminal charge brought?
Romeo Salta:Answer. There's never a criminal charge brought.
Scott Fenstermaker:Court. So when you said yes, you were referring to a bar complaint made to you by?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I mean, so there was a bar complaint made, but the evidentiary foundation for the bar complaint was after the DA had Ellsworth Police talk to my client without my permission to get information about my relationship with her.
Scott Fenstermaker:Now we're gonna go back into the questioning, of the witness by the examiner. Question, line 12. Alright. So going back to whether or not there was a criminal investigation opened up into you with respect to your alleged conduct by the district attorney's office or the Ellsworth Police Department? Can you describe what, if anything, happened?
Romeo Salta:Answer. Yeah. And this is, sort of a long story, but for it to make sense, I think you need kind of need to get the, background. So I had
Scott Fenstermaker:And then there was a interaction between the the witness and the and the court, and then the witness was again asked questions on the next page at line 15. Question, the alleged victim or the alleged perpetrator?
Romeo Salta:Answer, the alleged perpetrator. Sorry. Well, the alleged I mean, it depends the alleged victim of the criminal case and the alleged perpetrator of the DV assault, the the guy. She was, you know he called the cops on her and, after it was very clearly the court found that he had abused her at the DV assault case. So at that point, I think I communicated with the prosecutor and said, I mean, come on.
Romeo Salta:We already had a hearing on this, and they found that he abused her. Are you going to dismiss this? And they said no. And then I I wouldn't stand for what I did, stand by what I did, but I had been in touch with Matt Foster, who was the district attorney then. And so I sort of escalated it to him.
Romeo Salta:And just 2 days earlier, I'd had a conversation with him. We were both dealing with our very first extradition hearing. So we kind of talked and we were and that was like 2 hours before we talked to the judge. We were basically like, hey, like, what are you going to say? I've never done one of these.
Romeo Salta:And we were both just like, you know, colleagues in the same field, sort of, you know, dealing with an odd situation. And then I so then during my communication with, like, a few days later dealing with this, I basically I said, you know, I think I think this is an election year. You might my client would go to the press on this. This is pretty bad. She wanted, you know, she she won a DV assault case and the DV
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, who did? I'm sorry. Who did you say this to?
Romeo Salta:Answer, Matt Foster.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, okay.
Romeo Salta:Answer, in an email.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, and what was his position at the time you said this?
Romeo Salta:Answer, that they weren't going to dismiss the case. And I said
Scott Fenstermaker:Question, no. I mean, what was his employment position?
Romeo Salta:Answer. He was the district attorney for district 7.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Okay. Sorry I interrupted you. I just wanted to clarify who he was and what he was doing.
Romeo Salta:Answer. Sure. And then and then after that, I think shortly a couple of days later, Ellsworth Police got in touch with me and said, you know, what what what's going on? Like, ask me about it.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Did you explain why they were contact I'm sorry. Did they explain why they were contacting you?
Romeo Salta:Answer. No. I mean, I don't remember how the conversation went. What I remember is I got a call from Ellsworth Police asking me about the email I had sent Matt.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. And the email be stating what?
Romeo Salta:The email had stated, you know, my client is willing to go to the press. This is an election year. You know, maybe you wanna rethink this.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. And did the Ellsworth Police Department inform you of why they were calling you regarding this email?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I didn't have a very long conversation with them.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Is that a no? Answer. No. Question, okay.
Scott Fenstermaker:And what was your understanding of the reason that the Ellsworth Police Department contacted you regarding the email?
Romeo Salta:Answer, I mean, I I later came to find that there was a bar complaint was filed against me a month or 2 later. There was a recording between Ellsworth PD and my client where Ellsworth PD had went and interviewed my client about my email to Matt Foster.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. The email where you said you might go to the press?
Romeo Salta:Answer. Yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Okay. And when you say there was a recording, who made that recording?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I assume it was Ellsworth Police.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. So it was a recording of a conversation between the police department and your your former client?
Romeo Salta:Answer. Yes.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Okay. Alright. And the bar complaint. Who filed the bar complaint?
Romeo Salta:Answer. It was a Sua Sponte bar complaint, but it was the the only evidence was my communications with prosecutors, Matt Foster and Carly Reger, and then the recording by Ellsworth Police. And there might have been a police report in there too. I don't know.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. When you say sua sponte, you mean that nobody actually complained about you?
Romeo Salta:Answer. The just the nature of the complaint was as opposed to a client filing a complaint or something, but it's just it just said it was a sua sponte bar complaint. So my my assumption is that someone from the DA's office passed all of this information to I mean, my guess would be is what they did is called bar counsel and said, oh gosh. What do we do here? We got the situation.
Romeo Salta:Here's all the evidence. And then and then bar counsel, you know, brought a sua sponte complaint, which was dismissed, like, with no not even a warning. But, yeah, I was I mean, I tried to be calm about it, but, like, I was really, like, their call. Like, I mean, this was just an email between me and the DA, and they called the cops on me. Like, the cops called me and then they went and talked to my client.
Romeo Salta:So I think the timeline, I'm not sure, was my they initially they they finally agreed to dismiss the criminal complaint. And the same day that the dismissal came out, within a couple of days, Ellsworth Police was calling my client surprised. She didn't even know what that it had been dismissed yet. So they were just talking to her like cop talk, like,
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Is it your understanding that she believed that her case was still open when they called her?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I think so. Yes. And it was just like, what's you you know? Did you did you give him permission to say?
Romeo Salta:And, you know, it was just like they were just, you know, as they're trained to interview people to get admissions, I think is what was going on is what it seemed like to me.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. Alright. And what was the ultimate result of the bar complaint and the criminal investigation if you know?
Romeo Salta:Answer. I don't know what happened with the criminal investigation, but I know I was never charged. And then the bar complaint was dismissed without, you know, just no without warning.
Scott Fenstermaker:Question. If you know, do you know who initiated the criminal allegation within the DA's office?
Romeo Salta:Answer, I don't know. I had a brief conversation with Matt Foster after he was no longer the DA where he said, well, you know, the statute says you're supposed to report it if you have only, you know, concern that someone's trying to improperly influence a prosecutor. So, you know, I just felt like I had to do it, and I I don't so I assume it was Matt Foster.
Scott Fenstermaker:And that ends the questioning on that issue with respect to mister Steed. So, essentially, what happened here, Romeo, from this testimony, it looks like somebody initiated at one level or another a criminal report or criminal investigation of John Steed because he threatened to go to the press on a on an open case. And it's somebody or the other also initiated a disciplinary complaint against mister Steed regarding the same allegations. Is that what it seems like to you?
Romeo Salta:Yes. I I I I believe, the transcript, if if I read it correctly, states that, mister Steed's client he he said that mister Steed's client might be going to the press if the case isn't dismissed. I don't think it even says that he was gonna go to the press.
Scott Fenstermaker:And who is the criminal investigation opened up into?
Romeo Salta:Into the attorney.
Scott Fenstermaker:No. I'm but but who were the allegations with respect to the criminal investigation against?
Romeo Salta:The attorney.
Scott Fenstermaker:And this is because he told the DA that his client might go to the press on a case?
Romeo Salta:That appears to be the case. There's no other reason.
Scott Fenstermaker:And the disciplinary complaint, who was the disciplinary complaint against?
Romeo Salta:Against the attorney.
Scott Fenstermaker:For, again, threatening to go to the press on a case?
Romeo Salta:Yeah.
Scott Fenstermaker:How long have you been an attorney, Romeo?
Romeo Salta:43 years.
Scott Fenstermaker:And in your 43 years, have you ever encountered a situation like this before?
Romeo Salta:Never. Never.
Scott Fenstermaker:And I've been an attorney for about 32 years, and I've never encountered a situation like this either. Alright. So that's basically what we wanted to describe in this episode. The next episode we're going to be doing has to do with a criminal investigation that was opened up into me because I was meeting with a defendant in the county jail to discuss his case with him and discussing the possibility of taking over his representation. And during that process, a assistant district attorney who worked for Matt Foster contacted the local police department to discuss the possibility of getting an arrest warrant for me because I was speaking with that client.
Scott Fenstermaker:Thank you very much, Romeo, and, we will be we will have the next episode regarding the investigation with the me coming shortly.
Romeo Salta:Take care, Scott.
Scott Fenstermaker:You too, Romeo. Have a good night. You too. Bye.