US criminal attorney Robert Simels, who was last week arrested and charged with witness tampering, on Thursday sought the court’s permission to withdraw as counsel for drug accused Roger Khan.
The application was expected as Simels has been indicted along with Khan for witness tampering in the said case. Simels was released on bail and one of the conditions of the US$3.5M bail was that he must have no contact with Khan.
In his letter to presiding Judge Dora L Irizarry, Simels asked for an order granting him the withdrawal and said he is prepared to file a formal motion if the judge required same.
Simels, his assistant, Arianne Irving, and Khan were cited in the 18-page witness tampering complaint.
The three are charged with conspiracy to tamper with witnesses scheduled to testify in the drug trial and Simels is among other things accused of paying US$1,000 and discussing “eliminating and neutralizing” witnesses. He and his assistant allegedly had numerous discussions with a US government informant, to locate certain individuals close to the cases and to get them to rescind statements, not to testify against Khan, and even be “eliminated”.
The US informant with whom the two had discussions, and who was listed as reliable in court documents as information from him has led to drug busts in the past, was also asked to testify for Khan during the trial.
